His Bunny - GaLu Week 2015
by Libraborn
Summary: Collection of seven titles of our favorite couple based on the daily prompts. This is not only my first time participating in a shipping week, but also my first Fairy Tail story. So please be gentle with me while leaving constructive criticism. Rating will vary day by day, but there will be M rated chapters. All of Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima.
1. Chapter 1

He sat in his usual dark corner of the guild, watching her talk animatedly at the bar. She was surrounded by several women as they flipped through the images of the photo lacrima she had brought with her today. Apparently it was something she had bought while out on their latest girl's weekend, with the jewels he had given her with the strict order to buy herself something nice. These trips were something Erza insisted they do at least once a month and she seemed to enjoy getting away. It seemed that between four of them, and the cat who wouldn't leave Wendy's side, they had taken photographs of everything and everyone from Akane Resort to Magnolia.

"Any idea what they're talking about over there?"

He reluctantly pulled his gaze away from the group of women to look at the thin man that had sat beside him with a scowl before he turned his face away once again, frowning when he realized she was no longer at the bar. "What do ya want, Speedy?"

Jet just shrugged off Gajeel's normal grouchy attitude as he gazed longingly at the bar where the little blue haired angel was last seen laughing with Mira and Wendy. "I haven't gotten a chance to speak with Levy since they arrived back from Akane. I didn't know if you had heard anything."

The iron dragon slayer just shook his head at the man beside him before he picked up one of the screws from his plate. "I do my best not to listen in on women's conversations, always hearing things you don't wanna hear. It's disturbing."

The speed wizard nodded his head in understanding as he looked around the guild hall trying to find where he had lost sight of the woman he loved. He could only imagine the things the slayer had unintentionally overheard from random conversations around the guild. Not only were their guild members rambunctious, but most were perverts…even the women, Cana in particular. "So you haven't spoken with her either?"

Gajeel just chuckled at the man's insecurities. He didn't know what he and Levy had done to make the man so insecure about their relationship, if they were even in a relationship-for all he knew it was just casual sex. But the man was always up their ass trying to find some way to separate them on the rare occasions they were alone together. "I didn't say that." He threw another bolt into his mouth and bit down on it harshly as he glanced at the man from the corner of his eye. "I saw her last night. She came by my house and then went to stay the night with Lucy, like the rest of the girls."

He grinned when the man tensed at the insinuation. What he didn't say was that she had shown up with the other women. It seemed that Erza deemed it inappropriate for any of them to be alone with him or any other man at that time of night. The damn queen of the fairies wasn't getting any ass from her fugitive boyfriend, so she saw it appropriate that the rest of them go without as well; but if she only knew all the things he did to one of the women the scarlet haired knight held so dear.

"Gajeel…"

He just rolled his eyes at the man before he pushed his empty plate away from himself, Mira was damn lucky that she served him his scrap metal on ceramic and plastic plates. With the way the twerp beside him was going on he'd eat the entire guild if the noise from crunch the metal with his teeth would drown out the incessant noise coming from the man. The man was becoming annoying. He wasn't as stupid as most people thought, he knew the Shrimp and Speedy had something going on and he wanted no part of being in the middle of all that, drama wasn't his thing. Besides, he was more of a bunny kind of guy, they were fun…and liked to fuck. Shrimp didn't really do anything for him…kind of boring. "Go away Speedy, you're pissing me off."

"Jet!" Both men turned to see Levy running around the corner and wrap her arms around the man's shoulders from behind. "Are you bothering Gajeel? You know how he gets when he's eating."

The man's shoulder's fell as his girlfriend scolded him before he remembered that Gajeel had gotten to see her before she had come to him. "Why did you go see him last night?"

Levy creased her brow before she sat down between the two. She didn't know what the two of them had been talking about before she showed up, but she had a feeling that Gajeel was leaving out important information on what he was telling Jet, just to get the man riled up. Her eyes narrowed as she looked to see the man smirking as his eyes would discreetly search the room every now and again for a certain woman. She sighed and looked back at her secret boyfriend with a soft smile. "Jet, I wouldn't say I went to see Gajeel last night. It was more like I went with Lucy, Erza, and Wendy."

Jet's eyes widened at Levy's admission before he shot them in Gajeel's direction, narrowing them at the man's insinuation. "But you said…"

"Geehee…I said that I saw her last night, that she came by my house." He just shrugged as his eyes followed the blonde around the guild hall, watching as she continually bounced around and snapped candid photos of their guild mates. "I never said she came alone. Besides, I don't think the shrimp came willingly." He turned back to the speed mage, lifting his studded brow in question. "Would you go against the Titania's orders?"

The speed mage visibly paled as he looked at his small girlfriend before looking out to see Erza at the bar, eating her prized strawberry cake. "I promise to make it up to you later, Jet."

Gajeel creased his brow in distaste, the last thing he wanted to hear, see, or smell was the two of them getting all lovey around him. "Oi, take that shit to your own table…better yet, get a damn room."

Levy smiled before she shewed Jet off to go wait for her at their usual table with Droy. She needed to have a few words with the iron dragon slayer before she would be content in leaving him for the day and he needed a serious warning when it came to her best friend. She may not be able to do too much to him if he hurt the blonde, but she knew a few people that could.

"What do you want, Shrimp?"

She just smiled kindly before moving to the seat across from him, blocking his view of the woman his eyes were following around the guild. She rested her elbows on the table and propped her chin in the palms of her hands as she made eye contact. "I know about you two, Gajeel."

His eyes narrowed at the little woman. He was sure he knew what she meant, but he also knew that it wasn't Lucy that had told her. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about Gajeel. I'm talking about you and Lucy."

The raven haired man just snorted at the audacity of the little pipsqueak of a woman sitting before him. "So what…is this where you're going to threaten me to behave or you'll do something painful to me?"

The little woman winced at his sarcastic words before she shook her head. She knew that she wasn't weak, but she also knew there wasn't a whole lot she could do to bring this dragon slayer down either. "No. I know better than to think I could do anything to you. But…if you do hurt her in any way, emotionally or physically, I may not be able to do anything about it, but I do know a few people who can."

Gajeel opened his mouth to respond before he looked up and closed it again. He knew who the little woman was speaking of and he could only hope that _she_ didn't know about the two of them. Which brought the next question into play. "How do you know, Shrimp?"

Levy just smiled at him, knowing where his thoughts were going. "No. Erza doesn't know, nor does the rest of her team…I don't think. I really don't know how Natsu hasn't put it together with the whole dragon scent thing."

The man just smiled and shook his head. He wasn't going to be the one to break it to the small blue haired woman that she wasn't the first one to have this talk with him about Lucy; Natsu had beat her to the punch months ago, after the first night he had stayed at the blonde's apartment. Though Lucy didn't know about that. It was a dragon slayer thing, both Wendy and Laxus knew about them too, yet all he received from the two of them were harsh warning glares. As a rule, slayers didn't go around voicing other people business, it was rude. No one wanted someone walking up to them screaming to the entire world that they knew you had sex recently and with whom. "We're talking about how you know, not Natsu."

She gave a brief shrug and a small smile as she looked up to the second floor where the blonde was hovering over the Thunder God Tribe's table, snapping pictures of herself with each of them before she returned her gaze to the iron slayer. "I guess I'm just that observant."

"You aren't that observant Shrimp. Bunny and me have been together just as long if not longer than you and Speedy over there."

"What?!"

Gajeel jump up and covered the girl's mouth with his large hand. His eyes narrowed at her dangerously as he slowly removed his hand from her face. She was lucky that Natsu had arrived and started a brawl with Gray, dragging Elfman and a few others into the mix. The guild was loud enough that no many would have heard her surprised cry. "Careful there Shrimp. If you don't keep your damn mouth shut the whole guild's gonna know about us." An evil smirk spread across his face as he threatened her. "…and if they know about me and Bunny, they'll know about you and Speedy…especially a certain demon."

The script mage narrowed her eyes at the larger man before she crossed her arms over her chest. She didn't understand. There were plenty of men that would love a chance with the blonde bombshell and this man had her. Yet he refused to flaunt that he had been the one to snag her? "Why are you keeping it a secret anyway? Lu's beautiful, smart, fun, and strong. I don't understand why you want to keep it hidden. Is she not good enough…"

"Watch what you're implying there Shrimp." His tone was hard, cold, and definitely a warning that she felt she needed to heed. But his words and actions confused her. He wanted their relationship to be kept a secret, yet at the same time the relationship obviously meant more to him than just a few romps in the hay. He leaned closer in toward her, his hard eyes belaying the dangers that awaited her if she dared to repeat anything he was about to voice to her. "I would like nothing more than to lay a claim on her and tell everyone she's mine, and only mine." He looked away, his face falling in disappointment. "But, I'm waiting for her to wake up and realized that she can do better. That she can find someone that didn't beat her all to hell when they first met."

"Are you still caught up on that?" Levy stood and moved to his side before she sat down and found the blonde still sitting next to Laxus, smiling as she leaned in close and snapped a picture of the two of them. Levy couldn't help but smile at the ever stoic and uncaring face of their lightning dragon slayer while Lucy held the brightest smile in the guild. "Look Gajeel, Lucy's never been happier; and you know she doesn't hold grudges. She and Laxus are like siblings they're so close, and he not only had her turned to stone, but he tried to take over the guild that she saw as her home and refuge, made her friends fight against each other, and threatened the city's residents. You weren't even part of Fairy Tail at the time and you're a completely different person now."

The man just shrugged as he watched his blonde pout before she stood up and looked around the guild. Her eyes landed on him and she smiled brightly before waving. He just rolled his eyes and leaned back in his seat, further in the shadows as a small smile lifted at the corner of his mouth. Now that she had seen him watching her, he would be her next stop in the photo frenzy. Not that he cared about the photos, he just wanted his blonde with him.

A low growl built up in his throat just before the guild doors slammed open and three individuals stepped through the doors. "Honestly, do you always have to make a scene, Sting?"

The man narrowed his eyes and pouted, mumbling, "Damn Yukino, always ruining my fun…now how is the Great Sting Eucliffe going to make his grand entrance?"

"He's the Great White Dragon Slayer, the mighty Sting Eucliffe, of course he will make a scene wherever he goes. These fairies should be honored with his presence in their lowly guild hall."

The white haired woman just rolled her eyes at the words of the red cat. Leave it to Lector to defend Sting, regardless of the situation. Sometimes she wondered why she even put up with these two. It was no wonder that Rufus immediately volunteered to watch the guild while Sting was away and Orga had been the first to offer his help…like Rufus would need help keeping the guild in order. Unlike Fairy Tail, most of their members were fairly laid back and quiet, something that had carried over from the last master. Though she had a feeling that in a few years, Sabertooth would be just as bad as Fairy Tail with Sting in charge.

"Yukino!"

Gajeel grumbled to himself as his blonde Bunny altered her course from bouncing over to him to prancing her way over to the white haired celestial wizard. The two women hugged for a moment before Lucy pulled back and threw her arm around the younger girl's shoulder and held the lacrima in front of them and snapping yet another picture.

"Hey, Blondie!" The blonde male pulled her away from her fellow celestial wizard, a large smile on his face as he pulled her close to his side. "You're going to be my escort while we're here, you know…show me around."

Lucy narrowed her eyes at the Sabertooth guild master before she crossed her arms over her chest. "You're blonde too, moron."

Sting leaned down closer to the woman his arm was wrapped around before he looked up at Rogue with wide eyes. The dark slayer only glanced in Gajeel's direction, who was watching the blonde very closely, before he turned back to his guild master. "Blondie…," the man whispered.

Creasing her brow, Lucy looked up at him. His head was still leaning in close to her and she leaned back to even out the distance between their faces before whispering back at him. "What?"

He sniffed the air around her again before he met her gaze with a smirk and whispered quietly in her ear. "You smell like the iron slayer."

"Shh…" She pushed herself away from the man, only to stumble back into the hard chest of Rogue who held his hands out to steady her. The shadow dragon slayer had no intention of pushing the elder dragon slayer's buttons by messing with his intended mate, even if it was just jokingly. He'd already been toe to toe with the man and as much as he wanted to prove himself by doing it again and winning, he didn't want it to be over a woman that his rival had already set his eyes on. That wouldn't be a friendly competition, it would be a death sentence.

"Calm down Lucy, no one else will be able to smell it except the other slayers. But why are you keeping it a secret?" The dark haired man crossed his arms and took a respectable step back from the woman, his eyes occasionally drifting over to Gajeel, who was watching him like a hawk.

"Fro wants to know too."

Lucy smiled at the little green cosplaying exceed before she bent down to pick her up and cuddling her close. The little exceed clad in a pink frog suit had to be the cutest thing she had ever seen, next to Lily and his tiny sword, but she would never tell him that. She looked up and met Rogue's gaze before taking a cautious look around, making sure no demons were listening in. "Because…"

"Aren't you two cute! Lucy, why didn't you tell me you liked Rogue?"

"WHAT?!" The blonde stood stiff as she turned to see the demon standing behind her with a tray of drinks in her hand. "I don't…we aren't…it isn't like that Mira!"

The white haired woman just smiled at her knowingly before she turned and walked away from the two of them, calling out from behind her. "I could have helped with that ages ago, Lucy…oh the babies!"

"…Watch it Ryos…"

Rogue took another cautious step back as a very familiar growl caught his attention. Though it seemed that Lucy was still oblivious to the growls of the man that still had his eyes on her. She pointed behind her and grimaced as she turned to look back at the shadow dragon slayer. "That's why. I don't need to hear talk about babies every time I walk in the guild."

"Mm…I see." Rogue made sure to keep the distance between him and the blonde, sighing in relief as Yukino grabbed Lucy by the arm and pulled her away toward the bar. Insisting on hearing her tales from their girl's weekend.

The blonde shivered as she thought about the two days she had spent with Wendy, Levy, and Erza. Though it was fun, her friend and sister figure always had to throw some training in there; and seriously, who would tell that woman no? She glanced around before leaning in to the woman and whispering quietly. "In all honesty, it's not all it's cracked up to be. Erza's a slave driver. Even though she claims it's a vacation, she forces us to get up early and run five miles along the beach before sunrise. Then demands a one on one sparing session with each of us a day."

The saber looked at her blonde friend and smiled kindly. "Oh come on Luce, it can't be all that bad."

The blonde gave a half smile as she shrugged her shoulder, glancing over at the red head who was idly brushing the sky dragon's long blue hair. "No, it's really not. She's amazing and despite the horrendous torture she calls training, I've actually noticed improvement when I go on jobs."

"It really sounds like fun. I wish Sabertooth had more women for me to hang out with like that." The younger wizard rested her elbow on the bar as she placed the side of her face in her palm, staring off into space. She was trying to imagine what it would be like to have friends like in her own guild, friends she could hang out with like the women in Fairy Tail did. Don't get her wrong, she would never leave her guild, she loved Sabertooth. All she had ever wanted to be was a Sabertooth wizard. But being one of the only girls in the guild got a bit lonely at times.

"You should come with us next month."

Yukino's eyes widened as she sat up straight and shook her head. "No, I couldn't possibly intrude like that. It's your special time…"

"Yeah, with friends silly." Lucy looked past Yukino to the other end of the bar where Erza was just finishing with Wendy's hair. "Erza, Yukino wants to join us next month on our weekend outing."

The red headed woman just smile and nodded at the two of them. "Sure. The more the merrier; we always have fun…" She stood and made her way over to the two women and crossed her arms as she stood before the two. "…but I must warn you. We train as well. It makes the fun we have that much more enjoyable."

If it were possible for someone's face to be full of excitement while paling with dread then that would be how Lucy would have described her fellow celestial wizard's face. The woman was sitting at the bar staring at Erza. Not only was the woman being given the opportunity to be trained by the Fairy Queen, something no one outside of Fairy Tail had ever had the privilege of, but it would be a weekend away from the destructive men of her guild. In her mind, that alone was worth the pain of Erza's training. "Count me in!"

Lucy noticed as the girl's face immediately fell as an afterthought hit her, her gaze dropping to the bar. "What's wrong Yukino?"

The woman looked up from a blemish on the wooden bar to meet Lucy's concerned honey brown eyes. "Well, I just don't think I'll be able to keep up with either your or Erza." Yukino knew she wasn't weak, if she were Master Jiemma would have never allowed her into Sabertooth in the first place. But Lucy and Erza had both proven their strength and endurance during the games and several times after as well.

A small caring smile spread across Erza's face as she heard the woman's admission. "Don't worry about a thing Yukino, everyone has to start somewhere. I can assure you, there is no way you can be worse than Lucy was when we first started training together."

"Hey! …I wasn't that bad." Lucy's eyes widened as Erza's words as the red head took her leave of the two celestial wizards. Even if there was some truth to the statement, it was extremely rude of her to just put it all out there like that, couldn't she have said it a little nicer? But then again, that wasn't Erza's way. The woman was blunt and straight to the point. Lucy was a horrible pupil when she had first started running with Erza, and she knew it.

"Hey Blondie." Sting slung his arms around both Lucy and Yukino and smiled at them both with a glint in his eye. They knew he was up to something, they just didn't know what. "You're supposed to be showing me around tonight."

She shrugged the well-defined arm off of her before she turned to face him, a look of annoyance marring her heart shaped face. "You know your way around, Sting. This isn't your first time to our guild hall."

The man ignored her annoyance and looked her over before he gave a shrug and sat down between the two women. "Such a horrible host. Well, let me buy you a drink anyway."

Rogue sat at a table alone with Frosch as he watched his best friend, partner, and guild master tread on real thin ice. He'd kept an eye on the iron dragon slayer ever since they arrived and not once did the man's eyes leave the celestial fairy; and that did not bode well for any male that hung around her for too long, especially a male dragon slayer, such as Sting was trying to do. He looked up as the chair next to him was pulled out and a large body sat heavily in it, red eyes meeting red eyes. "Ryos…" Rogue just watched Gajeel, knowing exactly what and whom this conversation was going to be about. "…unless you want to be your guild's next master, I suggest you pry him away from my bunny."

The shadow slayer hung his head as the man stood without another word and walk away, presumably back to his corner table with his battle hardened black exceed. The small cat was sitting on top of the table, his eyes were hard and unhappy while his arms were crossed over his chest, keeping an eye on his partner's woman while he was away trying to get the situation taken care of peacefully. Rogue had no doubt that Gajeel would push things further if Sting did not heed to the warning the man was offering, which was very generous of the man. The Gajeel he had known years ago, before Fairy Tail and Lucy had softened him, wouldn't have even bothered with giving a warning. He would have gone in and ripped his partner's arms off for even thinking of touching what he saw as his. Like their dragon parents, dragon slayers were extremely protective, possessive, and slightly impulsive…most of the time; perhaps it was a side effect of taking in some of their dragon's magic.

Rogue knew that even if Gajeel had seemed to mellow out over the years, he had no doubt in his mind that the same merciless Gajeel that he had known back in Phantom Lord would come out if pushed; and messing with the man's intended mate was pushing a little too close to that line. Letting out breath, Rogue stood and looked at his green exceed who was watching him curiously. "Fro, why don't you go ask Mira for a fish? You can tell her I'll be over there to pay for it in a moment." The cat's eyes widened as she smiled and ran over and off of the side of the table before her wings were completely out, though that wasn't really an uncommon thing with her when fish was involved.

Lucy laughed as Sting held up the photo lacrima and pulled her closer to him, their faces almost touching. At the last minute Lucy reached out to the other side and pulled Yukino in, forcing all their faces tightly together so they could all three fit in the photo. "Awe, come on Blondie, I wanted a picture of just the two of us. I see her every day at the guild."

Lucy raised her brow as she looked at the pouting dragon slayer as she plucked her lacrima out of his hands. "Well, too bad for you that this is mine as are the photos on it."

"Yeah, so?"

Sometimes she really didn't understand how this man managed to get the position of guild master without anyone objecting to it. She knew he wasn't stupid, but the majority of his intelligence stemmed on the battle field. He was smart when it came to fighting, staying alive, and taking out an enemy. But common sense…he really needed some help with that one. "You don't get to have the photo, Sting."

"But…"

"Sting." All three sets of eyes turned to see Rogue standing behind the man with a stoic frown on his face. Lucy briefly wondered how often the man actually smiled. With a small unperceivable nod of the man's head, Yukino quietly excused herself to the ladies room.

"Another! With Rogue!" Lucy yelled out before she reached across Sting and pulled the dark haired man down with wide eyes. As he leaned in, Lucy grinned at him. "Smile a little Rogue."

The man just grunted before he straightened himself. That was not an expected turn of events. The last thing he wanted was for Gajeel to think that instead of warning his partner, he was joining in on the fun and while he may not always act like it, he really did enjoy living. "Sting we need to talk."

The man pulled the photo lacrima from the blonde woman's hands and held it above him out of her reach before he glanced back at Rogue. "So talk."

He sparred a glance at Lucy before he met Sting's blue eyes. "You're pushing him too far, back off."

Like expected, the man just laughed at the threat, not taking it seriously. He didn't know why the man was so bent on focusing on Lucy tonight. He knew for a fact that the man had no romantic interest in her, his eyes were on another celestial wizard – the only other celestial wizard. "Sting I'm serious."

The man looked over his shoulder to the red eyes that seemed to be glowing from the dark corner and his laughter stopped, yet he forced his smirk to remain on his face. He knew he would be pushing it with the iron slayer, but he didn't realize how much of a deadly aura the man would be giving off over some harmless flirting. But what seemed to make the entire situation better was the barmaid gushing over the two of them and how beautiful the little blonde babies would be. He could hear the growls coming from behind him. But if the man wanted her, he needed to make it known how much he wanted her and what she was worth to him.

Even though the white dragon slayer harbored no romantic feelings for the blonde, she was still a friend and he enjoyed her company. She didn't deserve a man that wasn't going to fight for her and while he knew that he couldn't win against a slayer fighting for his mate, he was willing to endure it for the little blonde woman beside him. He smiled over at Rogue before he lowered the photo lacrima just within her reach before pulling it back up again and switching it to his other hand as the blonde started climbing the bar stool and reaching over him to get it, pressing her large chest into him. "If he wants her then he'll have to fight for her. He should have claimed her, maybe now I'll take the honor of doing that."

Rogue's eyes widened at Sting's bold claim before he took a cautious stepped back, getting away from the suicidal man. He noticed Lucy had stopped struggling to get her lacrima and now sat with her knees on her bar stool as she leaned against Sting, her hands holding onto his shoulders for support as she eyed the two of them cautiously. "What…?"

The sound of a chair scrapping across the floor drew their attention to the man who stomped his way across the guild, his metal lined and studded boot making enough noise as they landed heavily on the wooden floor to draw the attention of the entire guild as he made his way toward the blonde male. "You got something you wanna say, Bee boy?"

Sting crossed his arms over his chest as he looked up at the man in anger. "Bee boy? What the fuck is that about?"

Lucy pulled herself away from Sting and crawled off of the bar stool to press herself between the two of them. "Gajeel, calm down…please."

The man looked down into the sweet honey eyes and felt his temper deflate just a bit before he grabbed her around the waist and pulled her behind him as he threw his fist into the man's face. "Stay away from what's mine."

Sting just rubbed his face and winced at the soreness in his nose as he sat on the floor, he was pretty sure the bastard had broken it. After a moment's pause, he noticed the silent stares of everyone around him as they gawked at the couple before him. "Hey, you think this is over pin cushion?" He pulled himself off the floor and reached for Lucy's hand. "You had your chance and you didn't man up."

Gajeel pulled Lucy further behind him before he turned his body into his metal scales and growled. "You really wanna fucking go there, bumble bee? I ain't giving her up, _she's mine._"

"Gajeel!" All eyes turned to the woman dressed in silver and white armor with wings spread out behind her, a sword held in each hand as she stared hard at the iron dragon slayer. "Explain yourself."

To the man's credit, he just sneered at the battle ready Titania before he pulled a wide eyed Lucy further behind him. She was still trying to grasp the concept of him verbally claiming her as his in front of everyone in the guild; and while it should piss her off having a man claim her as a possession, she felt slightly elated. Who would have known that after running away from a life where she would have been sold into a loveless marriage and treated like a possession she would love the idea of a single man claiming her as theirs and theirs alone. But she also knew the implications of such a claim and what it meant to a dragon slayer. As her best friend, Natsu had taken it upon himself to tell her everything he could about himself, and therefore about every other slayer as well. She knew what it all meant, and if she agreed to his claim, she would be bound to him for the rest of their lives. That's what it meant to be a dragon's mate. Ten years ago, or two for her, she ran away from the thought of being bound to someone and here she was desperately wanting this with Gajeel, and only Gajeel, and they hadn't even been officially together for more than two minutes. "I ain't got nothing to say to you, Titania."

The woman's eyes widened in surprise as he stood there with his arms crossed over his broad chest and refused to answer her, too used to having everyone cave in to her every threatening demand. But she refused to back down, this was her best friend he was claiming, the first person to break through her walls after the tower of heaven and make her feel like a woman, the woman she considered a younger sister. "You will…"

"Gajeel…" Erza and Sting both watched along with the rest of the guild as the iron dragon slayer turned his back to Erza and her swords, something no one dared to do, focusing his crimson eyes on the angel before him. "…did you mean it?"

The man just grunted as he gave a brief nod of his head, barely able to move his arms away from his chest and drop his iron scales fast enough as she launched herself at him, burying her face into his chest to hide the tears of joy she couldn't control. She looked up, smiling at his obvious discomfort of having so much attention on him with her in his arms. Reaching up, she pulled his face down, attaching her lips to his before she wrapped her arms around his neck, glad that they no longer had to hide their relationship from the guild. She had understood why he had wanted to keep it a secret, so did she at first. But then she realized that she didn't care what others thought about their relationship and looking back now she realized that even thinking that any of their guild mates would be anything less than happy for them was a ridiculous notion.

Pulling away, Gajeel looked down at Lucy's bright smile before he grabbed her hand and began pulling her out of the guild, only to have her stop him so she could turn back and run up to Sting and grabbing her photo lacrima. She threw her arms around his neck and kissed his check. "Thank you."

"Oi! Hands off, Bee-sting." The larger man wrapped an arm around her waist again and pulled her away from the white dragon slayer with a scowl on his face. "MINE!"

Lucy laughed as she let her dragon guide her out of the guild. Oddly enough, she found his possessiveness of her endearing. She could only assume it was because it was a natural instinct for him and it was something that he would only feel for her. It was guided out of love as opposed to greed, jealously, and social standings. "Wait!" She pulled him to a stop outside the guild hall and jutted out her bottom lip in a mock pout. "I didn't get a picture with you today."

The man stared down at her and blinked before turning and walking two steps before he heard her stomp her feet behind him. He couldn't help but smile at her childish behavior. You'd think she was a spoiled brat with the way she acted, but he knew better. Sure she was spoiled, he made sure of that – something he was loath to let anyone else know. But the woman was anything but a spoiled brat. She'd willingly give her enemy the shirt off of her back if she felt that it was well deserved or needed. "Fine. Get your damn picture Bunny Girl."

Bouncing in place at her victory, Gajeel couldn't help but picture her with white bunny ears and a round little cotton tail attached to her perfectly rounded ass, something that he was going to have to find a way to get her in again and get her to willingly take a picture in it. She launched herself at him and wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist, waiting for him to get a good enough hold on her so she could free one of her arms to take the photo she wanted. She held the lacrima out, guessing about the right position before she turned her head and pressed her lips to his cheek as she snapped the photo.

The picture of her kissing him with his wide and surprised eyes was perfect. Out of all of the photos she had taken with her new possession, that he had bought her, this was by far her favorite. It was the one she was going to stick next to the box of letters she wrote her parents, that way they could see how happy she was with this man. "So where are we going, pin-cushion?"

"Oi! Don't call me that!" Gajeel looked down at Lucy before a wicked smile lit his face. Fast as lightning, he scooped the blonde off her feet and took off toward the south side of Magnolia. "This dragon has a bunny to claim."


	2. Chapter 2

**2 - Glasses**

Pantherlily stood in the doorway of his partner's room, his arms crossed as he smirked while unknowingly watching the hardened dragon slayer as his girlfriend took a bath. The man sat on the edge of the bed as he thumbed through one of the novels Lucy had brought over. She had assured him that it was an amazing book and that she thought he would enjoy it, the man had then scoffed at her. Now he sat there with his nose buried in the book and he wondered how long the man had been secretly reading the books she had brought him and if he would ever let her know that he had read them.

Despite his appearance and what everyone thought of the man, Gajeel wasn't all fighting and weapons. He actually enjoyed a good book here and there, the only thing he refused to read was one of Lucy's romance books. Though he was pretty sure that she had gotten a few of her ideas and moves in bed from those books, which he definitely wasn't complaining about. He wasn't going touch _those_ books.

"You know, there are easier ways to hide that you're reading the books she brought you?"

The dark haired man jumped at the sound of Lily's voice before he slammed the book closed and stuffed it under his pillow, a scowl set firmly into place. "What the hell are you talking about, Lily? I'm not trying to hide anything."

The little black cat just smiled at the man as he uncrossed his arms and spread his wings, flying to the bed. "Is that so? Then why hide the book?" The cat reached under the pillow and pulled out the fantasy book with a large black dragon on the cover and smirked. Leave it to Gajeel think he could easily hide the books under something as simple as a pillow. He wondered briefly if Lucy had already found some of the man's stashes of her hidden books and just decided to keep quiet about them.

The man just crossed his arms over his chest before he eyed the book, snatching it out of the cat's hands and tossing it carelessly on the night stand where Lucy had left it for him – something both she and Levy would skin him alive for, books were to be treated preciously. After a moment of silence, the man finally stood and walked out of the room, eying the bathroom door cautiously as he walked past it grumbling to himself and the cat that was on his heels. "Damn Bunny's always rambling on about different stories and their characters. I never have any clue what the hell she's talking about; at least this way I'll be able to keep up with her. That woman confuses the hell outta me when she gets going."

"She's your mate, Gajeel."

Pausing the man looked over his shoulder with narrowed eyes as he scowled down at his partner. True Bunny Girl was his mate, he had yet to mark her as his, but he had made his claim on her. She wanted to wait on the marking and he couldn't really blame her for that. There was a lot to it and a big step. If it wasn't done just right or with the right partner, if either of them had any doubt in their mind, then it could be dangerous. He wanted her to make sure this is what she wanted, he knew she was the only woman for him and that they were destined for each other, but she still had a choice in this. They could still go their separate ways, the only consequence would be their overall happiness. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

The cat lifted his brow as he walked past the man into the kitchen. "Exactly as I said. She is your mate. There is no way any simple woman would stick with you Gajeel. I can assure you, you are just as confusing as she is…sometimes more so."

"Tch…whatever cat."

Following the cat into the kitchen, Gajeel moved past Lily as the he drooled over his kiwis before he pulled some of his stash of scrap metal out of the cabinets and took the seat opposite him. He used to just keep all his metal lying randomly around the house until Lucy came over for the first time and about had a panic attack over it. Just another one of the things he found strange about her. Regardless of her strange behaviors, he agreed to keep it put away and out of sight, though it made it a pain in the ass to get to when he was across the house and wanted a snack. Was he whipped? More than likely. Did he care? Fuck no. He's the one that got to go home with the blonde beauty every night and he was the only one allowed to share her bed. He had put an immediate stop to the Salamander's sleeping over bullshit. If he just insisted on staying at the blonde's apartment, he had set a few ground rules for the man: First – and most important – the bastard wasn't allowed anywhere near Lucy's bed. Gajeel had just gotten it to not smell like ash and burnt fabric and he didn't want to have to go through that pain again. The last thing he wanted to think about when he was trying to sleep or when he was pounding away at his bunny was the damn Salamander. Second, there was to be absolutely no more _'accidental'_ peeks or walk-ins on Lucy when she was in the bath. He had threatened to murder both Natsu and Gray if either of them ever saw Lucy naked again. He was the only man that would ever have the privilege to see her like that ever again. Third, no more climbing through the window, if the door is locked, then there is probably a reason for it and Gajeel didn't want them interrupting; because he wasn't going to stop until he was done. Lucy didn't like that so she had immediately threatened Natsu about the window. Lastly, but definitely not least, if the man just had to sleep over either he or the Titania was to be present, preferably Erza; he didn't want to have to be around the fucker that long.

"Gajeel…"

The dragon slayer paused as he threw another piece of metal in his mouth and looked up as his Bunny made her way down the stairs. He choked as he swallowed harshly, forgetting to chew the screw he had just thrown in his mouth. He'd seen Lucy in just about everything and nothing. Hell, he'd seen her in a skimpy little barely there bunny suit, that he was determined to get her in again. But he had never been so turned on by her as he was in that moment…and she wasn't even flaunting anything.

Dressed in one of Gajeel's too large shirts that ended at the top of her thighs with her hair piled messily on top of her head with a few wet strands clinging to her neck, she watched the dragon slayer carefully as he fought to swallow the still intact screw. She didn't know what she could possibly do for him if there was a severe problem and he needed attention. The most she could do was summon Virgo and have her fetch Wendy, but she didn't even know if there was enough time for that. "Gajeel!"

The man just waved her away as she ran at him, desperate to help him in some way. The last thing he wanted was to die from swallowing a fucking screw because his mate walked in the room and made his blood boil, the Salamander would never let him live that one down. "I'm fine," he rasped out as he grabbed the glass of water sitting on the table.

"Gajeel that was my water."

The man just rolled his eyes at his cat's obvious statement. He needed something to wash down the stray bit of scrap that was lodged in his throat and that was closer and a hell of a lot easier for him get a hold of than to get up and get a fresh glass. "So what, I was dyin'!"

The scarred exceed just raised his brow as he eyed the man before him, holding half eaten unskinned kiwi between his hands. "You were hardly dying." The cat smiled at Lucy as she sat a fresh glass of water down for him. "Thank you Lucy."

"You're welcome, Lily."

The dragon slayer rolled his eyes as he grabbed the woman around the waist and pulled her down into his lap before he reached around her to grab another piece of metal and slinging it into his mouth. He bit down, getting the first and loudest crunch of the scrap before he spoke around the metal in his mouth to the woman. "What'd you need, Bunny?"

The woman turned to wrap her arms around the man holding her in a warm and loving embrace, despite the current chomping of metal. The man before her was everything she had been missing in her life. He was her safe haven, her sanity-believe it or not, her warmth, and her heart. But most importantly, he was her home. He was what she had been missing since she was ten, when her mother had died, he was everything she lost as her father turned his cold shoulder on her as a child, when a child needed their parent's guidance most, and he had been the one to show her how to love someone with every fiber of her being. He had been the one to bring out all of her passion, the one who pushed her to endure and succeed…he was also one of the few to annoy her to the extent that brought out her slightly more violent side, though that seemed to be a dragon slayer thing…and a Gray thing. But he was the only one of them who seemed to set her at ease with nothing more than a few words.

She wanted everything she could have with him, and while she was excited for their future marking she was hesitant and scared as well. Gajeel had gone over everything about it with her, as had Natsu for some reason. Gajeel had made sure that she understood the meaning of it all, what it would mean for them as individuals and for them as a couple. But she knew deep in her heart that she would never love another man the way she loved him, he was it for her. She was afraid of the pain it was supposed to cause as his magic flowed into and through her and wondered if she could handle it, and the small portion of her brain that told her this man was too good to be true kept her mind thinking about what would happen if she wasn't really meant to be his mate, and then there was the opinions of the guild. Would they think her easy for sleeping with Gajeel before they actually became a couple, would they look at her differently for allowing him to mark her so soon? Granted she knew the answers to all her questions, but it didn't ease her mind. She couldn't help but think about other's opinions of her, she had grown up in a society where others opinions of you were all that mattered. If a person's reputation was ruined then their family's name was ruined and it was next to impossible for those in the higher class society to forget about who had an affair with whom, as if that was the worst thing they had to worry about. It was a hard habit for her to break, but she was trying.

"Lucy…" She shook her head at the sound of her name on his lips, knowing that it wasn't the first time he had tried getting her attention if he was calling her by her name and not by the nickname he had given her. She smiled at him before pressing her lips softly to his. "…what's wrong?"

"Nothing. I was just trying to remember where I left my gale force glasses." She moved to stand, only to feel the arms around her tighten even further, refusing to let her up until she divulged what had been on her mind.

The dragon slayer knew better than to believe what she was telling him. While she may have misplaced her gale force glasses, whatever the hell those were, he knew that there was something else on her mind; that and it was extremely unlike Lucy to misplace things. The woman was so organized that if he didn't know any better, he would think it was part of her magic, and it could be with the way she had to keep track of each of the contracts and the details of them that she had made with each of her spirits. But he would let her think that he bought her story, for now. "What the hell are gale force glasses?"

Lucy just sat back and stared at the man with wide eyes. She knew she shouldn't be surprised that he didn't know what they were, but she couldn't help it. Her glasses were like her lifeline, without them there would be no way she could keep up with Levy, Erza, and Freed on books. Each of them read a different genre and she liked them all and she loved discussing them. Every now and then two of them would cross over and know the book or series the other did, usually Erza and Levy with their romance novels of some variety, or Levy and Freed with their mystery and adventure novels. "They allow me to rapidly read through a book within minutes that would otherwise take me all day."

Lily could see the gears moving in Gajeel's head as he thought of the possibilities of using a pair of those glasses. He wouldn't have to hide that he was reading the books Lucy brought him because he would be finished with them before she would ever notice. "Did you leave them at your apartment Lucy?"

The blonde thought for a moment before she shrugged and managed to get Gajeel to let her up long enough to move so she could grab her keys off the counter. She held out a single golden key as she chanted the opening incantation. "Open gate of the Maiden, Virgo!"

"My princess! You look more dazzling than ever…" The lion spirit grabbed her hand as he leaned over it and pressed his lips to the back side of it before he stood back to appraise his key holder's appearance. "…though I must say, you'd look even more dazzling if you were wearing my shirt, my love."

"Watch it kitten!" The dragon slayer narrowed his eyes as he pulled his bunny away from the spirit, wrapping his arm around her tightly as he pulled her back down to his lap.

Lucy just rolled her eyes at her dragon slayer's reaction. She knew that Loke only acted this way around him to draw a reaction from him, and he always got one. The lion's heart truly belonged to a certain pink-haired ram and Lucy was all for their love. "Loke, why are you here?"

The spirit frowned at her before he held his hand to his chest with a mock cry before a smirk appeared on his mouth. "I thought my princess needed to be saved from the horrendous dragon by her handsome and loyal knight in shining armor, so here I am."

Gajeel stiffened as he tightened his grip on Lucy even more as he pulled her further into his lap. "Oi, who are you calling horrendous you overgrown fur ball?"

"So you don't deny that my princess needs to be rescued?"

"Yeah she needs rescued, from the knight that can't keep his damn hands to himself; and if he ain't careful, that dragon's going to eat is shining armor." The growl that came from the man's chest behind her reverberated through her body and she shivered at the possessiveness of it. As much as she enjoyed knowing how much he wanted to keep her for himself, she knew that if she didn't put an end to Loke's teasing now he'd end up going back to the spirit world by force and it wouldn't be from her performing a forced gate closure.

Deciding to get to the point of why she had summoned Virgo in the first place, Lucy jumped in to the conversation, cutting off both Gajeel and Loke's insults of the other. "Loke, can you go to my apartment and get my gale force reading glasses? I think I left them. They'll either be on the coffee table or on the table next to the couch."

The lion spirit stopped as she spoke to him before he crossed his arms over his chest and looked at her incredulously. "Isn't that a job better suited for Virgo, Princess?"

The blonde smirked as she leaned back further into Gajeel's bare chest and crossed her arms over her own. Sure the job was more of Virgo's thing of trying to do everything to please her master, but Lucy knew that Loke would do as she asked. Just like Gajeel, the leader of the zodiacs refused to see her upset and would do whatever he could to put a smile on her face. "You're right, it is…" She grinned evilly as he smirked at the thought of getting out of the task. "…but, you are the one who showed up when I summoned Virgo, so I had assumed that you wanted to be the one to carry out the task I had intended for her."

The man opened his mouth to speak before he immediately closed it again with a frown, knowing that she was right. He had been the one to jump through Virgo's gate when she was summoned. Letting out a defeated sigh he nodded his head before he gave her a low bow and looked up at her with a coquettish smirk. "Very well my love, I shall return for you soon."

Gajeel growled as the spirit left in a shower of golden falling stars. "I really don't like him when he does shit like that."

The blonde just smirked at the irritated man. While she knew that Loke had no true romantic interest in her, not that it would matter if he did, there were celestial laws against that, but she could understand the nature of Gajeel's irritation. Dragons were territorial creatures which would also make dragon slayers slightly territorial by default. She was pretty sure that even without Gajeel's slayer magic he would be slightly possessive and protective over her, it was just in his personality. The man hadn't had all that much growing up, let alone people he cared for and the only person he did have that had ever given a damn about him was his dragon, even if the stupid lizard never outright said it, he knew. So it made sense that when he found someone that meant more to him than anything or anyone else that he would guard and protect them from others, even if those others were their friends. She believed that he was so afraid of losing her that he was unintentionally pushing everyone away. The only thing that brought her relief was Natsu's words that as soon as they were fully mated and her marked he would relax a bit. She smiled at the thought. "Hey Gajeel…"

The man just grunted at her in acknowledgement as he scooped his arms under her legs and stood, walking toward the stairs. She had promised her friends that she would be at the guild at a certain time, and if she wasn't there Erza would come looking for her, and he did not want that bunch in his house. Lucy's possessions and home got destroyed enough that he knew how much damage they could cause, and he was having none of it. He knew eventually it would happen, especially when he finally got the nerve to ask the angel in his arms to move out of her apartment.

Lucy bit the corner of her lip as she smiled at the man's concentrated expression. Gently moving a piece of his unruly black hair out of his face, she reached up and kissed the corner of his mouth to get his attention. "…if Loke's flirting bothers you so much, why don't you challenge him? You know, like a dragon does when another encroaches upon his territory."

The man paused at the top of the stairs as he looked down at his woman, a smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. "Are you saying that you are part of my territory, Bunny?"

The woman just grinned as she wiggled enough for him to gently set her on her feet, her smile never fading as she turned her back to him and looked over her shoulder as she reached for the bedroom door. "Every inch of me, dragon boy."

Gajeel stood still with a lopsided grin on his face as he watched the door close slowly with Lucy smiling seductively. He never would have thought that Lucy would willingly insinuate that she saw herself as property, not that he believed she did, nor would he ever see her as such. It just wasn't who she was, after a life of being treated as nothing more than an object, bargaining chip, and a tool to be used, Lucy had resolved to never be thought of as such ever again. But in a way she was right, if she did decide to carry through with her decision to allow him to mark her she would in essence be his and he hers. He was just glad that he hadn't had to explain every fine detail about being a dragon slayer's mate to her. Natsu had taken care of that for him, his only assumption was that the man had tried to prepare his best friend for the outcome should he ever meet his mate.

Like his dragon parent, Gajeel didn't really have the patience for teaching anyone. Between the two of them, it was amazing that he had managed to learn anything about dragon slaying magic; one of them didn't want to take the time to teach while the other didn't want to bother with taking the time to learn, yet both wanted him to possess the magic the dragon said he was capable of wielding. But despite his poor teaching and learning skills, he was trying with his bunny girl. He was willing to listen and answer any question that she may have about their impending marks. Luckily she seemed to grasp it better than he had expected. Perhaps her understanding had something to do with her own magic and the stories she claimed were written in the stars.

"As creepy as that smile is on you, it's good to see you actually happy Gajeel." Pantherlily stood next to his partner's feet with his arms crossed as he looked up at the man. He liked Lucy, she was a sweet girl and she seemed to be exactly what the hard and gruff man next to him needed in his life.

"Tch…whatever." The man's smile immediately fell as he realized he was making a fool out of himself. Taking a step toward the door where Lucy was changing clothes, he decided he didn't care how much of a fool he looked like, his smile reappeared.

"What the hell?! Get out!"

Quickening his steps to the door, Gajeel pulled the door open just as the lion tumbled out, one of his metal studded boots thrown at the spirits head before the door was slammed shut again. With a growl Gajeel grabbed the man by the collar of his shirt before he shoved him against the wall roughly. "What the fuck were you thinking, house cat?"

The spirit just held his hands up in surrender. As much as he liked to mess with the couple he wasn't going to be disrespectful to the best master who'd ever own his key, nor was he suicidal by provoking the dragon slayer like that. "Hey…hey! I didn't mean to pop in on her like that; how was I supposed to know she was changing?!"

"It's okay Gajeel, let him go." The small woman who had rapidly thrown Gajeel's shirt back on placed her delicate hand on his forearm, easing his anger. She wasn't happy that Loke had walked in on her while she had been changing and she was even more unhappy with the fact that he stood there staring at her, but Gajeel didn't need to know that. Right now she just wanted to get her glasses from her spirit and send him back to his own world.

The dragon slayer begrudgingly dropped his hand from the man before he turned and punched him once in the face. He knew it wasn't going to be enough to send the man back and he couldn't just let such an infraction against Lucy go unpunished. He walked away from the duo as he heard Lucy let out a frustrated sigh, but she didn't say anything to him…it would have just been pointless and she knew it. Stalking to the dresser in the bedroom, he listened to the lion speak and immediately knew something was wrong. He wasn't he normal cocky self and he was trying to ease something on her.

Lucy saw Gajeel lean against the doorframe from the corner of her eye as she spoke with Loke. She wasn't too sure about the look of concern on his face as he watched her. Between his look and Loke's tone, she knew something was wrong.

"Lucy, I went to your apartment as you requested and I found it in disarray. The apartment itself is not totally destroyed and your bedroom seems to be untouched, as is your bathroom; but your living room is a mess. It seems that Natsu managed to demolish your coffee table as well as burn part of your sofa."

Her eyes widened at the thought of her apartment being damaged once again. She couldn't shake the feeling that there was more wrong than what he was saying, but at the moment all she could think was the last warning her landlady had given her. She'd be lucky if she had an apartment to go home to. But what she didn't understand was why Loke hadn't given her the glasses she requested as he was telling her about her demolished apartment. It would have seemed like the smart thing to do, right? Offer something that meant a great deal to the person as you told them terrible news? "Loke…"

The lion spirit sighed as he reached into his pocket and pulled out the glasses she treasured so much. The look on her face alone at the sight of the broken glasses made him want to beat the shit out of that little pyro dragon slayer. He wanted nothing more than to hold the woman in comfort, but he knew that it wasn't his place to do so anymore. As much as she believed him to not really love her, she was mistaken and he wished for her to stay that way. Anything with her would be a breach in his agreement to be a summoned celestial spirit and broken celestial laws, but for her he would do that; but that was no longer an option for her anymore. She had found her hero…and it was the dragon instead of the knight. Sure he had feelings for the pink ram spirit, but they paled in comparison to what he felt for Lucy…hell, Aries paled in comparison to the Princess of the Celestial World, as she had become known as.

Lucy held her hand to her mouth trying to stifle the sob that still managed to force its way out at the sight of the glasses. Next to her keys, those were one of her most cherished possessions. Sure she could go out and buy another pair easily, fairly cheap too. But nothing she could buy could mean as much as those the lion held in his hand. She felt the large arms wrap themselves around her body before she turned and buried her face in the bare chest of the dragon slayer she loved, taking in his metallic scent; it was the only smell in the world that could calm her down at times like these. She felt it as he leaned against the wall and slowly slide down it into a sitting position, carefully maneuvering her into his lap so she could let all of her tears out against him comfortably.

Gajeel didn't know why the usually unshakable blonde was so worked up over a single pair of glasses and he really didn't care, she was upset and that was what the only thing cared about at this point. He looked down to the floor next to where he sat with Lucy cradled against his chest to see the broken glasses where he had left them after they were handed to him. One of the lenses were covered with spider webbed cracks while the other was missing entirely, the frame around the empty space where the lens should be was broken and bent and the arm of the opposite side was missing. He could see the faint traces of scorch marks along the one remaining arm, which was bent to hell. He was just grateful that the lion knew when to leave things be, unlike many of Lucy's other friends. There was one thing he was sure of at this very moment, Natsu was in for the beating of his life. "Lily, go tell the guild that Lucy's going to be late showing up and for her team not to show up here."

The little exceed nodded seriously as he glanced at the sobbing woman before he turned and headed out of the house. Like Gajeel, he didn't know why Lucy was upset over broken glasses; she usually wasn't the type of person to become extremely attached to material possessions, unlike her dragon slayer boyfriend who tended to hoard anything and everything that was made of metal, only to eat it later. For the woman to become upset over the glasses meant something and he was sure she would divulge what that was eventually. Right now the best thing for they could do for her was to allow her to let her pain out before they left for the guild and he'd make sure that she was able to do that in peace.

The man gripped her tighter as he sat on the floor with her, hating the feeling of her tears running down his chest. Tears of sorrow were not supposed to fall from her beautiful honey colored eyes and sobs as painful and heart wrenching as hers were not supposed to pass the angelic pink lips that he loved, nor were her eyes supposed to be as red as his. She was in pain and it was a pain that he could not take away from her. Whispering softly in her ear, he belayed how much he hated seeing her like that, telling her everything about her that he loved and why he would make sure she never cried like that again.

It had taken Gajeel nearly an hour and a half to calm the distraught blonde down enough to convince her they were expected at the guild, and he was sure Lily was having a hell of a time keeping others from coming to check on their beloved celestial wizard. He didn't know if Lily had told them what had happened or if he just gave them a vague reason as to why they weren't allowed to come searching for them at the house. Regardless of what he had told them, he only hoped that they could wait a little longer before storming his house…and they would eventually storm his house if the blonde didn't show up.

She had done the best she could at cleaning herself up after her physical and emotional breakdown without taking another shower, the only evidence left was her red bloodshot eyes. With a deep breath she pushed open the guild doors before Gajeel reached out and held it open for her as she walked through in front of him, a firm frown set on his face as he looked around the guild hall. A small weak smile crept onto the girl's face at the man's unexpected and unusual chivalry. It was something she had learned not to expect from anyone within the guild, except for Freed, though the two of them had a similar upbringing.

"Lulu!" She fought the grimace as Levy, Erza, and Mira all looked in her direction, all watching her with wide eyes before Levy ran to her and wrapped her arms around her. It felt nice to be embraced by those you cared for, especially when you were upset. But the warmth and the feeling of the embrace of her best girlfriend was nothing compare to how Gajeel made her feel with his arms wrapped around her, and that was what she wanted right now.

Her eyes shot up to the man as Levy pulled her toward the bar, no doubt to get to the bottom of what had her so upset. It was not something the blonde wanted to speak about at that moment. The man just nodded his head for her to follow her friends and she knew that he was going to find her fire breathing best friend and possibly beat the crap out of him, she really couldn't bring herself to care about that at the moment. But she knew that the man wouldn't ever willingly leave her alone for long and he would always come back to her when he did.

Gajeel watched as the shrimp pulled Lucy to the bar, all three sets of eyes watching him carefully. He knew what they were thinking and he knew that Lucy would put a stop to it. He stood in the doorway as his eyes surveying the guild as he subconsciously listened in on Lucy's conversation before following the scent he was looking for. He was just making sure she was okay before he left her here alone for a few hours. It didn't surprise him that she was unwilling to talk about why she was upset with the three women and he smiled when she vehemently denied that he was the cause of her distress, like he would ever do anything to cause her this much pain. But he was going to find the little bastard that did. He knew the pyro was here, he could smell him. There was no doubt he was hiding from the wrath of Lucy, unless he knew what those glasses meant to his bunny, which he had finally managed to coerce out of her, in which case he was trying to hide from him…a moot point since the iron slayer could smell him.

Heading toward the back of the guild, Gajeel stopped as soon as he was out of range from most of the guild. The last thing he wanted was for Lucy to receive more attention about this than she wanted, which meant that no one else needed to hear this conversation. "Erza."

The woman stood behind him, holding a single sword tightly in her right hand as she glared at the iron dragon slayer. "What did you do to her, Gajeel?"

The man crossed his arms over his chest and stared back at the woman trying his best not to lash out at her for her assumption the he was at fault. She was like a sister to Lucy and the fact that he could respect anyone else who got almost as worked up about Lucy's tears as he did were the only things that were keeping him from attempting to knock some sense into her. "I didn't do shit to Bunny Girl. I picked up the pieces and calmed her down after her useless piece of shit best friend broke into her apartment again and destroyed her glasses."

The woman's sword vanished as her eyes widened at his words, which he took to mean that she knew. He could only assume that if she knew then the Salamander knew. Good…the bastard knew he was coming. "Natsu destroyed Lucy's gale force glasses?"

He gave the woman a single nod before he turned on his heel and continued on his path, the woman close on his heels. "I'm getting the first punch in, then he's yours. I got things I need to do today."

Erza watched the man's back as he stalked ahead of her with a smile on her face. She knew what he was planning on doing and she couldn't approve more. Perhaps she had been mistaken about the grumpy dragon slayer not being good enough for Lucy. He was quickly proving that he deeply cared for her and would doing anything for her, pulverizing mountains if they got in his way to make her happy. "I find those terms acceptable." She had doubt that it was Natsu alone that had damaged the blonde's apartment, the man didn't usually set things on fire without provocation, but the last thing Gajeel needed at this moment was to have his anger pushed even further at the thought that Gray had also played a part in Lucy's tears. At this point she didn't know if she would be able to stop him if he lost control. She would deal with Gray after the dragon slayer before left.

Kicking the door open to the storage room, Gajeel stood in the doorway and inhaled to make sure he had the right room. True to his instincts, the man was hiding. "Salamander! I know you're in here." He glanced over to Erza and nodded for her to remain outside while he got his licks in.

He heard a squeak of fear before he stomped over to the stack of crates, only to find a wide-eyed and terrified Lisanna scramble against the wall before Natsu jumped out and stood in front of the woman in anger. The iron dragon slayer looked between the two of them, grinning as he thought of the shit he could get the bastard in with this information. But at the moment his concern wasn't on the woman cowering behind Natsu. "Get the hell outta here kitten, unless you want me telling demon woman about your little booty call."

"I-It wasn't like that!"

"Gee Hee. She doesn't know that. Scram!" He watched the pink haired man closely as Lisanna scrambled out of the room, waiting for him to make a move. It seemed that his assumption that the Salamander had known he was coming for him was wrong. The man didn't even look the least bit sorry that he had broken into Lucy's place and destroyed her possessions again, and that pissed Gajeel off even more. Growling deep in his chest, Gajeel threw his fist out, creating a large iron pole to throw Natsu into the far wall as he moved a single inch from his original position. He walked over to where the pink haired nuisance was shaking the daze away and looked down at him. "You really don't care whose things you break do you?"

"What the hell are you talking about, metal face?"

He growled again as the man moved to get up, only to be kicked back down by Gajeel's iron studded boot. "You broke Lucy's glasses."

The fire dragon coughed as he fought to catch his breath. He sat still as he panted and looked up to the irate man. "What the hell? She's worried about a pair of glasses? It's not like they're irreplaceable. I've broken more valuable things than that and she wasn't mad. Just go buy her another pair and she'll be happy."

"Natsu!"

Both men looked to the door to see the red headed knight stalk in, her long bangs shadowing the top of her face and her mouth set into a cold firm line. Gajeel shivered, glad that she wasn't aiming that deadly aura at him. Sure he had taken more than his single hit, but he really didn't care. If you asked him the bastard deserved more, though he guessed that Erza would take care of that for him. Turning Gajeel nodded at Erza before he headed toward the door. She held her hand out to stop him before she looked up at him and med his red eyes. "Get the twenties Gajeel." He just raised his brow at the woman before she elaborated. "The shop keeper will know what you're talking about."

With a nod she let go of him, allowing him to continue on his way. He stood outside the closed door for a moment as he listened to their conversation. "He is buying her another pair Natsu. But you were wrong, those you destroyed were not replaceable. Now, face your punishment." He grinned in satisfaction as he heard a squeal of fear from the fire dragon slayer and made his way back to the bar where he had left Lucy with Levy.

"Mira! You have to help Natsu!"

The three women looked at Lisanna as she ran behind the bar to her older sister for help, grasping the older woman's hand desperately. After hearing Lucy's story, neither Mira nor Levy had any sympathy for the man. Erza was missing and they were pretty sure she had found out about Natsu's transgression somehow. "Calm down Lisanna. Now, tell me what's wrong."

The girl took a breath as she looked straight at her sister, ignoring the other two women at the moment. "Gajeel, he's angry and he sought out Natsu. I think he's going to hurt him."

"Lisanna, Natsu and Gajeel fight all the time. He can handle himself against Gajeel, and I promise Gajeel won't come out without bruises either."

The youngest Strauss sibling turned to see Lucy, angry at her casual dismissal of the confrontation her boyfriend was initiating, only she stopped in herself from lashing out at the woman as she laid eyes on the blonde's appearance. "Lucy! Oh my gods, what happened?"

The blonde just looked away, trying to fight off the fresh wave of emotion as yet another person asked her about why she had been crying. So far she had been able to keep from breaking down again since she was here, but she didn't know how long that would last. Honestly, what she wanted right now was to just go home with Gajeel and be alone. "Natsu happened." A large scarred arm with four iron studs wrapped around her. Leaning in close to her, Gajeel whispered into her ear, "You okay Bunny?"

Lucy took in a deep breath as her heart raced at the deep sound of his voice and leaned into him with a smile as he kissed her temple, only to frown at his next words. "Good. I have a few errands to run, do you want Lily to stay here with you?"

At his name, the black exceed hopped onto the counter and watched her closely with crossed arms. He didn't know how much good he would be to her, but if she wanted him to stay with her he would. She just shook her head at her boyfriend's words. She didn't know where he was going or why he wouldn't ask her to go with him like he usually did. Both he and the cat nodded at her answer, figuring that to be the case.

He felt her soft hand grip his arm as he moved to pull it away and he looked down at her. "Can I go?"

"No." He saw the pain in her eyes at his simple answer and he hated it. But for this to go as he wanted it to he needed to do this alone. Letting out a sigh, he ignored the prying eyes of the three women around them and turned Lucy around on her stool and held her face in each of his hands before leaning down to press his forehead, wrapped in his green bandana, against hers. "I'm sorry, I can't take you with me this time Lucy." She just nodded against him as a few stray tears fell from the corner of her eyes. The man leaned back and looked at her with a creased brow. The smell of her tears hitting him hard. "Hey…" As she looked up at him as he softly ran his thumb under each of her eyes to brush her tears away. "…I'll be back for you in a few hours, then we'll go check out the damage to your apartment and then head back home. Okay?"

Nodding her head, she gave him a soft smile as she sniffled, refusing anymore tears passage. "I love you, Gajeel."

At her words, the man leaned down and captured her mouth with his in a firm unyielding kiss. While he may not be one for constant public affection like other couples in the guild, he knew when she needed it, and this was one of those times. The fact that she was being so emotionally clingy was enough proof to him that those glasses had meant a great deal to her and the emotional stress was effecting her in ways she didn't know how to deal with, so she grasped for the one person who made her feel good at the moment. Pulling back, he looked into her honey brown orbs surrounded by red. "I know, Bunny. Me too." She watched as he turned and walked out of the guild, the black cat flying close behind him.

"So Lucy, which books have you gotten caught up on?"

The blonde tried hard not to think about the glasses she usually used to keep up with all the books her friends were reading and discussing, she knew the women were just trying to cheer her up and get her mind of off what had happened that morning. She just gave a weak smile as Mira set a fresh strawberry smoothie in front of her and leaned against the counter with a smile. "I've finished the dragon chronicles Freed recommended and passed it on to Gajeel."

All eyes around her widened at her words, unwilling to believe that the hardened dragon slayer was a reader. She fought a large smile at the thought that there was more to her dragon than most people knew; and she was the only one, next to Lily, who knew the more about the man than anyone. "Wait, you're saying Gajeel reads?"

She just nodded her head and giggled at Lisanna's surprised reaction. Sure the man didn't look like he was much of a reader, and he wasn't, but that didn't mean that he didn't read every now and again. Granted he was trying to hide the fact that he was reading the books, but he was reading them none the less. "But keep it quiet. For some reason he doesn't want people knowing." A wistful smile spread across her face as she thought of her dragon's strange quirks. "He even tries to hide that he's been reading the books I leave for him. I found one of them stashed in the pantry. I can only assume he was reading in the kitchen and I walked in."

Gajeel grumbled as he walked out of the fourth magic shop at this rate he would end up either going home to Lucy empty handed, which was not an option, or doubling back and catching that dreaded contraption most normal people called a train and hitting Clover Town. The only magic shop in Magnolia was surprisingly scarce. One would think that the home town of the strongest guild in Fiore would have a better stocked shop. He was currently in Hargeon and while there were several magic shops here, none of them had the 20x gale force glasses Erza had suggested. After completely making a fool of himself at the first shop, the Guarding Magic Shop in Magnolia, the little old shop keep had taken pity on him and explained to him what he was looking for.

"I believe there is only one shop left, Gajeel."

The man just grunted in affirmation as he walked down the streets before looking up at the darkening sky. It was much later than he had thought. Initially he had anticipated already being back with Lucy by now, but he needed those glasses. Hell, at this point he would settle for those eighteens that he had seen at the first store. He felt bad for taking so long after he had promised Lucy that he'd only be a couple of hours. He stopped outside of the polished door and frowned as he looked up at the sign, _The Eye-Q Magic Shop_. The sign in the front window advertised several different types of magical items, ranging from magic pens to magical mirrors, but his eyes zeroed in on two phrases in particular…_New Twenty Magnification Gale Force Reading Glasses_ and _Celestial keys._ "Finally."

The shop keeper looked up as the bell rang when Gajeel stepped in, the look of surprise and repugnance lingered on his face as the scruffy dragon slayer and his cat made their way to the counter to speak with him. "Good evening sir…" The man sneered at the rough looking man. "…are you here for anything in particular?"

Gajeel didn't care for the tone the man was speaking to him with, that mixed with the acrid stench of this too clean shop, and the prolonged absence of a woman he promised hours ago that he wouldn't be too long made him a little irritable. "Yeah, I am. You're sign said you had celestial keys, how many you got?"

"You don't seem like the type to be a celestial wizard, sir."

The dragon slayer raised his brow as he crossed his arms over his chest and smirked, only to be stopped by Lily flying in front of his face. "Gajeel, we are here for glasses, not keys."

"Yeah, I'll get to those. Bunny likes keys too. I'll get her both." The exceed just shook his head as he moved out of his friend's way, knowing that if he was determined to get Lucy both new glasses and a new key there would be no stopping him. The man spoiled her, he knew it and Lucy knew it…now he just needed to get Gajeel to see how over the top he was on some things. Gajeel looked back at the shop keeper and raised his brow again. "The keys, which ones ya got?"

The shop keeper let out a disgruntled breath as he opened the cabinet containing the boxes of keys. Gajeel and Lily both were surprised at the amount of keys he held. "I'm afraid I only have silver keys. The gold are…"

"Yeah I know, all twelve are spoken for. My Bunny Girl holds ten and the tiger girl holds the other two. Those all the keys?"

The man just stared at Gajeel in surprise. He knew the tiger girl he was speaking of, Yukino came in regularly to browse and check to see if he got any new keys in. But the other, Miss Heartfilia, was only known to him by reputation. If he were to take this man's word at face value, then that would mean that this…brute, and Lady Heartfilia were an item; but he just couldn't see such a refined lady with _him._

"Okay, how about I tell you what she has and we can go from there on which I want to buy." Gajeel spoke slowly so the man could catch up to him. He didn't know what he had said to make the man so dazed.

"Right…" The man shook his head and waited for Gajeel to give him a list of the silver keys Lucy already had. "…which keys does she have, sir?"

"She's got that little snowman thing she calls Plue…"

"It's a dog, Gajeel."

The dragon slayer looked at the cat that was sitting on the counter waiting on him to finish with the keys so they could move on to the glasses and go home. "I know what Bunny says, but that ain't no dog."

"Right, Canis Minor." The man had no clue what a snowman called Plue was, but a little dog he could work with. "Now, what else?"

"The clock that she likes to ride in…the cross with the snot bubble that gets her information…"

Lily face palmed at Gajeel's description of his mate's spirits. "Gajeel, just stop. She has the clock, Crux, he's the cross, and a harp."

The shop keeper nodded as he wrote down each of the spirits. "Horologium, Crux, and Lyra, got it."

"Wait…she's got another." Both the other man and the cat looked at Gajeel, waiting for him to elaborate on which other key she had. Honestly, the only ones he ever saw were her gold keys, Plue, Horologium, and he'd seen the cross once. Everything else was just from her speaking of them and despite him not remembering their names, he knew how many she had and what they did. "It's a bird, a compass I think."

"Pyxis." The man was impressed with Gajeel. For someone who was not a celestial wizard, the man knew more about the spirits than most. He may not have been completely accurate in his descriptions, but he knew the basis of each of them. After forty-five minutes of discussing spirits, which Lucy had and which she didn't, which the shop keeper had and which would benefit or Lucy would enjoy the most, Gajeel had finally moved down to look at the glasses displayed in the glass case.

A single pair immediately caught his eye. "Those."

Lucy stared at the guild doors with a frown on her face. It was bordering on eight hours since Gajeel left her with the promise that he wouldn't be gone too long. She didn't know whether she was upset with him leaving her alone so long or if she was just worried about him. He had never said what he was going to do and she could only assume that he was going on a job that she couldn't help him with, and if that were the case then for him to be gone longer than he had anticipated was not a good sign.

"Lucy, I'm sure he's fine. Come on you need to relax, have you had dinner?"

Looking up at sweet barmaid, Lucy shook her head. She had wanted to have dinner with Gajeel when he came home, but she supposed that it was getting late and she needed food. But she really didn't want to leave the guild, there was no telling when he would come back for her. Despite the time she had spent here all day with Mira, Lisanna, and Erza, she still didn't really care to be around too many people, lest they ask her why she had been so upset earlier. Though by now the entire guild had heard about her apartment's damage.

"Luce!" Her eyes narrowed as the familiar head of pink hair came into sight. She wanted nothing to do with him at the moment and she had no intention of talking to him until she had calmed down. He had apologized to her earlier and she had said that she forgave him, but she was still upset and didn't want to be around him. That hadn't changed within the past two hours. Turning her back, the blonde moved behind the counter and waved at Mira to continue her conversation with Kinana as she moved back into the kitchen, intent on making herself a salad. Mira would keep the dragon slayer out of the kitchen, none of them would ever forget the last time the pyro had been in the kitchen. Luckily he had been able to eat the fire that he had caused, but not before there was a little damage.

Unwilling to head back out into the guild hall and facing everyone, Lucy began washing the dishes that Mira had used that day along with straightening up what she could. She had been tempted to go ahead and head home, but she knew her apartment was in disarray and probably a disaster and she didn't have a key to Gajeel's place on her.

"Where's Bunny Girl?"

She didn't know why his voice alone filtered through her mind while she had been blocking everyone else out. But as soon as she focused in on his voice, everyone else's came too, Natsu's being at the forefront of them all. But it was his words that made her blood run cold. "Hey Metal Head, I can't believe you're reading books Luce brings for you. I never would have pictured you as one to read _those _kind of books."

Lucy stood in the doorway of the kitchen, watching as the entire guild hall stopped their conversations to listen to the two dragon slayers. She sent a hard glare at the man, knowing that he had heard her conversation with Mira, Lisanna, and Levy. "Natsu!" But it was Gajeel's next words that made her smile.

"You mean books about slaying dragons, fighting demons, and adventures? Yeah, I am." The fire dragon slayer tilted his head to the side as he creased his brow, thinking. Of course all he had ever seen Lucy read were the sappy romance books she and Erza spoke about.

"Natsu!" Her best friend looked at her with wide eyes, knowing that tone was never a good thing. "If you overheard my conversation, then you also heard that I requested that they not say anything about it. It wasn't directed at just them, but anyone who heard it."

The male lowered his head in shame, knowing that he had upset his friend twice that day, granted the second time wasn't nearly as bad as the first, but it was still there none the less. He had just wanted to get the iron dragon slayer back for not only interrupting his time with Lisanna, but for attacking him as well. Turning her head from the pouting dragon slayer to the dragon slayer of her dreams, she smiled brightly as she walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his waist with her head resting on his chest. The feeling of his arms wrapping around her shoulders settled somewhere in the center of her, warming her in places she didn't even know she was cold. "Did you go on a job?"

The man just looked down at her as she burrowed her head further in to his chest before looking up at him and shook his head. "No, I had a personal errand I needed to take care of. You knew I was reading them?"

She smiled up at him and nodded. "Yes, they were never in the same place I left them for you and you were the only one who would have moved them. Lily never really comes with you to my house and I doubt he would hide a book in my underwear drawer."

Leading the girl over to the bar, Gajeel sat down just as Mira brought out his usual plate of metal and a bottle of beer. He grunted his thanks before turning back to the blonde as he bit into his scrap. "Why didn't you ever say anything?"

With a small shrug she gave the first bright smile since she had been given her broken glasses. "I figured that you would tell me when you were ready. Besides, I enjoyed trying to find and predict where you would leave them all. It's like a puzzle." Jutting out her lip in a pout she looked into his red eyes. "I'm still trying to figure out where you left the last book of the dragon knight."

The man grimaced at the mention of the book, that was one he hadn't cared for and he didn't even bother finishing it. "Try the garbage, I didn't like that one."

The blonde just stared at her dragon, unsure whether or not the man was serious as he shoved more metal into his mouth. It wasn't a series she had intended for him to read, knowing that he wouldn't like all the romance in it. It was one of _those_ books that Natsu was referring to. "Gajeel Redfox…you did not throw one of my books away!"

The man grimaced at her tone before he looked at her with a smile, ignoring the questioning eyes that had lingered on them. "There's my Bunny Girl." The man lifted his bottle to his mouth as he drained half of it in one pull before setting it back down and looked back at the still irate blonde. "No, I didn't throw your damn book away. Even though I thought it was shitty, I know you like it."

Her anger fading away she smiled. She could handle it just being hidden, she'd find it eventually. "Why'd you try reading it anyway? I hadn't meant for you to."

He pushed his plate back toward Mira before he picked up his bottle again and turned to his blonde. "It had a dragon on it. No book about a dragon should be that sappy."

She smiled at him as she leaned in close, whispering in his ear. "So if I were to write a book about you and me, it can't be sappy? No romance? No sex?"

Stiffening, he reached out and grabbed Lucy from her bar stool and deposited her in his lap before he pulled her in close, growling lowly at her. "I said it shouldn't be in there, not that dragon's don't fuck. I'm pretty sure this dragon has proved that he can easily keep up with his Bunny."

The girl giggled as a blush crept up in her cheeks before she looked around to make sure they weren't drawing too much attention to themselves. She needed to get her head on straight, at least until they left to head home, or to her apartment. Clearing her throat, she leaned back to look at him with a smile on her face. "So did you get your errand taken care of?"

"Yeah. I had to go all the way to Hargeon to find them, but I found what I was looking for." He gave a devious smirk as he ignored the questioning gaze of the girl sitting in his lap. "So, are you about ready to leave Bunny?" She nodded with a smile before he stood up with her and turned to the door.

"Wait!" Both Gajeel and Lucy turned to see Erza standing behind them, a frown on her face. "Gajeel, I would like to see what you found today while you were out. It must meet my approval before hand."

The blonde looked between one of her best friend's stern and serious gaze and her boyfriend's answering glare, she was getting the feeling that she was missing something or that someone had left her out of the loop of something important. The last time she had checked, Erza didn't necessarily care for Gajeel or approve of their relationship. With the tension between the two of them building as they both just stood there staring at the other, Lucy stepped between them. The last thing she wanted was for these two to go at it. She didn't know what Gajeel had gone out to get or why Erza supposedly knew what it was, but she did know that Gajeel wasn't like Natsu and Gray and wouldn't easily back down from the fierce woman. "Erza…"

"Fine." The dark haired man pulled a box out of his pocket and tossed it to the woman, a smile on his face as she caught it deftly. "You want to see what I found, have a look."

The woman looked down at the box in her hands, knowing that it wasn't big enough to hold the glasses that he had supposedly gone to buy. But judging by the cocky smirk the man had in place it was obvious that it was definitely something for Lucy. "I thought you were going…"

The man snatched the still closed box out of her hands and held it out to Lucy, his smirk still firmly in place. "If you ain't going to open it, let Bunny do the honors. It's hers anyway, no one else can get any use out of it."

"M-Me?" The blonde looked down at the small box in her hands before as she ran her finger over the gold embossed letters of the store it had been purchased from. "Why did you..."

"Just open the damn box Bunny."

With a silent nod, Lucy lifted the lid off of the white box and that brilliant smile that he loved to see on her erupted from her, lighting up the entire guild hall. He was proud of himself, if he could get a smile like that from a single silver key then he had no doubt that her glasses would make her even happier. "Gajeel you got me a new key?!"

He chuckled as she threw her arms around his neck, the box still held tightly in her hands. Reaching behind him, he grasped her hands and pried them away from himself and kissing each of her wrists before he took a step back. "Yeah, thought it would cheer you up some. Which one is it? The guy wouldn't tell me, only that you didn't have it."

Creasing her brow, she looked back down at the name of the shop and frowned. She had never been in that shop before, which was surprising. She had thought she'd been in all of the shops in Hargeon. "How did he know which keys I had?" The first thing that ran through her large over-active imagination was that she had some crazy fan that had seen her from the Grand Magic Games was stalking her. Just as quickly as that thought came, it went. She hadn't put on much of a good show at the games and had been severely defeated and humiliated every time she went out.

"I told him." He smirked down at her surprised face before he stepped toward her and kissed her forehead. "Yeah Bunny, believe it or not I do listen when you're talking…even about your spirits. The man heard me call you Bunny Girl and laughed when he pulled this box out and told me you didn't have it.

A chuckle made its way out of her mouth as she fingered the key, reverently. Taking in the shape, design, and feel of its magic. "It's Lepus, the hare. Not the same as a bunny, but it's close."

The dragon slayer laughed loudly at Lucy's statement. The toffee-nosed shop keep bastard had a sense of humor that was for sure. The man had started out their conversation as if he were disgusted with speaking to him and by the time Gajeel had left, he was making jokes with him and told him to bring Lucy with him next time he came in. "A bunny for my Bunny, huh?" He wrapped his arms around her shoulders before he maneuvered her toward the door. He was ready to get home and relax…and give Lucy her new glasses so she could read, and maybe he would too.

He smiled as they walked down the street and Pantherlily flew toward them and into Lucy's arms as he nodded to Gajeel. The dragon slayer just grinned before he looked down at Lucy and noticed her soft smile as she held his cat. He could still see the pain in her eyes, but he could tell that she was trying to be strong and move past it. He had to give her credit for that, he didn't think he'd be able to so soon. "Hey…" Nudging her shoulder to get her attention he grinned down at her. He'd been debating on asking her something for a while, but this thing with Natsu breaking into her apartment again just sealed everything for him. "…I got a question for you Bunny."

He paused when she looked up at him and nodded, waiting for him to continue. Now he just had to figure out how he wanted to word what he was asking. He didn't know why it was so hard for him, he'd already asked her to mate with him and allow him to mark her and there shouldn't be anything harder to do than that right? He supposed it stemmed from the fact that he knew how much she valued her independence. "When we get your apartment fixed again, I want you to move in with me."

"Gajeel that isn't a question."

"I know, it's just that the Salamander and the Iceman ain't gonna to break into my house like they do yours and they definitely aren't going to destroy shit. All of your things would be safe, you'd be safe, and I have a bigger bathtub."

Lucy laughed at the man's argument and shook her head at his words. She didn't see why it mattered, they had been spending every night with each other since they had come out about their relationship a month ago, save for jobs that took them away. "Are you trying to convince me there dragon boy?"

"Gee Hee." The man grinned as he wrapped his arm around her waist as they continued forward. "Is it working?"

"The larger bathtub is pretty convincing all in itself. Maybe I'll stick you in my little apartment and I'll just take over your house and the large bathtub." A mischievous smile settled on her face as she teased him. It really didn't matter where her things were, the man next to her was her home. He had taken residence deep in her heart and she in his, there was nothing that could keep her from staying with him. "Okay."

"Yeah?"

She couldn't help but smile at the hope and excitement in his voice as he reached out to open the door of his…no, their house. It was like he almost expected her to tell him no, that she didn't want to officially live with him. Technically as far as the dragons and dragon slayers were concerned, they were already engaged. They had both agreed on him marking her, which was the equivalent to a marriage when it came to the dragons. There was no reason for them not to live together. "Yeah. I'll let the landlady know and turn in my key once we fix Natsu's mess."

Flipping the lighting lacrimas on, Lucy's brow creased in confusion as a single brown package sat on the coffee table, her name sprawled across it in neat cursive handwriting. "What's that?"

Leaning down to her ear to quietly whisper to her, Gajeel grinned as she shivered from the sound of his deep voice. "A welcome home present for my Bunny."

She turned to look at him in surprise as she held the white box with her new key up for him to see. "But the key?"

The dragon slayer shook his head as he took the box from her hand and set it aside before he leaned into her and buried his face in her neck, taking in her sweet strawberry scent mixed with his own scent of metal before his lips brushed against the pulse in her neck and his warm breath cause goose bumps to spread down her arms. "No, that was to cheer you up. This is to welcome you home."

Lucy fought to keep her breathing steady as she gripped the front of his shirt, thoroughly enjoying the feeling of his lips brushing against her neck with each of his words. She knew the man threatened her sanity, or what little of it she possessed anyway, but right now she was teetering closer to the edge than he had ever taken her before. She didn't know if it was this sweet side that he didn't let out too often or if it was all the emotional stress she had been plagued with that day, but she was ready to jump over that edge if it meant she continued feeling his mouth against her. "So if I would have said no?"

Gajeel paused in his motion against her neck at her words before he smiled against her and continued to nuzzle further into her neck and hair. "Then it would have been a welcome back gift." Regrettably, he pulled away and smiled as she whimpered from the lack of contact, only to push her toward the box with her name on it. "Open it."

Kneeling down on the floor next to the coffee table, Lucy pulled at the paper only to pause and look up at her iron dragon. "Is this the personal errand you went to do today?"

"Just open the damn box Bunny. You're the one who's supposed to be dying of anticipation, not me; so get a move on. I got other things I wanna do to you tonight."

Rolling her eyes, the blonde continued to pull at the paper. Yet despite her dismissal of his words, she felt her gut clench in anticipation. "It's all about the sex to you isn't it?"

"Nah, that's just a big part of it."

"Gajeel…"

The blonde's eyes watered as she looked into the box at the single item. "Lily took them to Freed and had some anti-destruction runes put on them or something. I know they don't compare to your mom's, but I wanted you to have another pair."

Lucy held the pinkish-red frames in her hand and smiled at the shower of golden stars that lingered along the arms. They were perfect for her. While she had loved her mother's gale force glasses, these were more her style and fit her perfectly. "They're perfect." Gently laying them down as if they were the most precious thing in the universe, Lucy launched herself at the man she loved and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck. She couldn't stem the tears that fell and at this point she didn't even bother trying. "Thank you Gajeel."

The man wrapped his arms around her and smiled as he buried his face in the top of her hair. "Anything for you Bunny."


	3. Chapter 3

**Oh my goodness! I you guys have no idea what your reviews and words of encouragement mean. Never have I received so much positive feedback from anything I've written. I am so glad you are all enjoying this. **

AU - The Princess and the Dragon

The princess ran desperately through the woods outside the capitol city limits, the castle looming over her as if to watch her every move. She was hoping to avoid the guards and soldiers her father had sent after her, no doubt he had forced her own guard to join in the search for her as well, even though she had known the princess was going to do this eventually. She refused to be the submissive daughter he required any longer and did the only thing she could think of to get her out of what he was demanding. She didn't care if she no longer held the life of luxury and extravagance she was used to or if she was forced to give up her crown. If being Fiore's princess was to be a life of subjugated misery she wanted no part of it. She envied the poorer couples who lived happily with their children in the run down parts of town. Each of the families working hard to just barely scrape by while she had everything she could ever want, need, and then some graciously handed to her. Yet despite their hardships, those poor families were happy and enjoying what little they had together. She wanted that. She wanted to find a love as pure and soul consuming as her dear friend and personal guard had. Though not poor, her red headed friend had fallen in love as a child to the man she had eventually married, and it was that love that motivated her to defy her father and forge ahead to find her own soul mate.

She gasped as a protruding branch from the bushes snagged her silk evening gown, ripping a large gash along the side and drawing a slight amount of blood. Bending down, she gathered the material up in her hands and took off again, doing her best to avoid the branches and underbrush. The sound of the pursuing men reached her ears and she turned to look over her shoulder, knowing that the city's guards weren't far behind. She could only hope that _his_ men hadn't joined in the pursuit as well, but she wouldn't hold her breath, she had never really been that lucky.

Not paying attention to where her feet were landing, the blonde princess's foot was caught on the root of a large tree and a squeal of surprise left her as she went down to her hands and knees, drawing attention to her location…and then she heard it, _his _voice breaking through the trees and ordering his men toward her direction and it sent a chill up her spine. _HE_ sent a chill up her spine. Quickly scrambling to move forward again, she pulled off the small moderate strappy heels she had been forced to wear and dropped them aside, she wouldn't need them. But she knew at this point that there would be no out running them, her only option was to hide and hope that neither _he _nor _his men_ were expert trackers.

"_Wait. Who is he?"_

_The woman stopped in the middle of her story and starred harshly at the salmon haired man that had interrupted her. "I'll get there."_

"_What's the Princess' name?"_

_Again the woman looked to the shirtless man next to the first and sighed, she really didn't care to be interrupted. "I don't know; she's just a Princess. I never really thought to give her a name."_

"_I believe you should call her Lucy, since Lucy is the only blonde woman here." _

_Smiling, the story teller nodded with a mischievous grin on her face as she turned to look at said blonde, a blush staining her cheeks as she leaned against the chest of the dark haired man behind her. "Very well. The princess will be called Lucy."_

Forcing herself to move faster, Princess Lucy pushed her way through the thick brush to the lake she had seen from her private balcony at the palace, the lake she and her best friend had always talked about finding their way to. With a surprised gasp at the sight before her, Princess Lucy tripped and landed on her hands and knees, unsure of what her next move should be. Sitting contently near the water's edge was the large grey dragon that she had seen flying over the castle and city countless times. His…

"_Dragon? It's Igneel! Come on Mira, tell me it's Igneel!" The man jumped up, waving his arms in the air in excitement as he spouted fire in the air in his excitement. _

_The man sitting next to him reached up and jerked him back down to his seat on the ground before he crossed his arms over his bare chest. "No you fire breathing retard, she said the dragon was grey! You said Igneel was red." _

"_He's right Natsu, if Igneel is red then this dragon cannot be him. Now…which of the dragons is grey? It needs a name as well. Mira, is this dragon male or female?" The man thought to protest before he caught the look in the armored woman's eye and obediently kept his mouth shut._

"_He is male."_

"_Grandeeney is white…and a female."_

_Everyone's gaze moved from the youngest dragon slayer to the oldest before he shrugged his shoulder as if didn't care about what any of them were saying, yet he sat there listening to the story the demon had taken upon herself to tell. "Don't look at me, my magic came from a lacrima. Besides, I would assume that dragon was yellow or something…you know, lightning and all."_

"_Well, what about Metallicana?"_

_All eyes moved to the young blonde woman as she looked up to the man whose legs she was sitting in between. Shaking his head, he leaned back against the tree before he wrapped his arms around the front of her waist. "No way, you ain't bringing my dragon into this shit. He already made it perfectly clear to me that he don't want no part in any foolish human entertainment."_

_The man's resolve started to falter as the blonde poked her bottom lip out in a pout. The only thing that saved him from caving was the voice of the storyteller jumping in, though later he might have wished that he would have caved. "That's alright, this dragon already has a name. You'll learn it eventually." She turned her gaze back to Natsu and Gray, her eyes narrowing dangerously at the two of them. "Now, I want no more interruptions!" Both men gulped as the woman's deep demon voice filtered through, replacing the soft sweet voice they had come to associate with the motherly-like barmaid. "Good."_

The dragon watched the woman with his large warm red eyes, careful not to make any sudden movements lest he scare her away. He didn't know what it was, but he recognized her from what he liked to call his daily stroll across the countryside before flying back over the capitol city to his mountain. She was always standing on her balcony with a small blue-hair woman by her side, looking wistfully out over the lake. How could he not notice her, with her bright blonde hair and warm smile she was like the sun that shined over the kingdom. He watched her closely, about to stand to leave as he heard her heart rate pick up and her breath faltering in fear. The last thing he wanted was for her to fear him. He halted his movements and paused when he watched her look over her shoulder with a broken sob, so quiet that with his enhanced hearing he barely heard it.

His head moved abruptly to the trees behind her as the voices and movement from those following her reached him and he growled lowly at the smell of the _man_ leading them, it was a very familiar smell. He turned his eyes back to the girl, understanding why she was so terrified now. She was being chased. Though why wasn't his concern, nor should why she was so scared of them catching her. But for some reason that he couldn't possibly imagine he was concerned with it. The woman was beautiful, and as a dragon, he tended to want and hoard beautiful and shiny things. He knew she wasn't a thing, nor something to be possessed, but he still wanted her; yet he wouldn't take her against her will. With a tilt of his head he motioned for the girl to come near him and was surprised when she easily complied with his demand, as if she had been waiting for the invitation to approach.

Cautiously advancing toward the large dragon before her, the princess tentatively reached her hand out to brush against his cool scales, marveling at the feel and texture of each of them as he lowered himself for her. She had seen the dragon on many occasions and had always been enamored with his beauty, the way he gracefully glided through the skies of Fiore as if he hadn't a care in all of Earthland. But never had she thought she'd be able to get this close to him, for him to allow her to touch him.

Letting out a dissatisfied huff of air out from his snout, the dragon brought his tail around behind the woman and nudged her up onto his back. She let out a surprised yelp as she grabbed onto him and pulled herself up. The satisfied smile she gave as the dragon stood and spread its wings as _he _came barreling through the tree line and into the clearing with the lake didn't do her relief and overwhelming joy justice. Lucy couldn't be happier, she had hoped for nothing more than the dragon to give her some form of protection and drive away her pursuers so she could go about her way, leaving him in his peaceful reverie.

As the prince's voice ran through the night as he called out to her, promising to have her, the dragon beneath her growled lowly. He would have none of that within his territory. This woman, despite how much he wished to keep her himself, would choose who she would go to; and at the moment he was full of pride as she willingly went with him.

Lucy laughed as she flew through the air on the dragon's back, loving the feeling of freedom that came with it. She couldn't count how many times she had envied the dragon for his freedom and grace, how she had wished daily that she could join him in the sky and be able to fly amongst the stars at night. "Friends of yours?"

She shook her head and laughed at the notion that she would make friends with that type of man. He radiated evil and cruelty and sent shiver down her spine, she wanted no part of that. "No, he's…" The woman looked down to the large dragon underneath her with wide eyes as she heard the deep booming voice in her head. Granted it wasn't every day that she got to ride on the back of a dragon, but she hadn't expected him to speak to her. "…you can speak!"

The dragon snorted at the princess' delayed reaction to his gruff voice, though he didn't let it bother him too much. "Of course I can speak. What'd you think me some sort of mindless fuckin' beast? I'm the one higher on the food chain here Bunny Girl."

"Y-You're not going to eat me are you?"

The tremble in her voice made the dragon frown, though the prospect of eating her didn't sound too bad either. With a chuckle he continued the flight to his den as he enjoyed the thoughts the woman was sending through his mind. "I dunno, do you want me to eat you? Because I'm sure I can arrange that."

"What?! Of course I don't." The princess paused as she lowered her voice with a slight blush. "…and I never thought you were a mindless beast. I've always found you beautiful and majestic."

Grinning to himself, the dragon glided himself effortlessly into the opening mouth of his cave. He took in the awkward silence and the fidgeting the woman was doing on his back as he walked further back into the cave, deciding to relieve the woman of her discomfort in the silence. "Who was after you?"

The woman let out a defeated breath as tears once again sprang to the front of her eyes. Upon smelling the salty liquid, the dragon stopped in his place as he listened to her ragged and unsteady breathing as she fought for control of her emotions. He wanted to know what had such a beautiful woman upset, worst of all, he wanted to destroy the source of her pain. "He's my betrothed."

"WHAT?!" Lucy jumped as the dragon roared at her. She wasn't scared exactly, but she didn't know what she had said to cause such a reaction from the so far gentle dragon that had saved her from the previously mentioned man. "What would possess you to mate with a thing such as that?" The grey dragon was angry that such a kind hearted woman would willingly tie herself to that dark and evil creature. He could literally smell the evil coming off of him and hear the venom in his words as he flew away with the woman on his back.

"You have my sincerest apologies for upsetting you, but I can assure you that our betrothal was not consensual, at least not on my part. I want nothing to do with the man, yet it seems that I have no choice in the matter."

As the dragon continued down the cave, he paused at a smaller opening…well, smaller than the dragon, to Lucy it was still a fairly large entrance to the back section of the dragon's den. She could see the dimly lit fire further back and could see a few furnishings as well, but what she didn't understand was how the dragon could not only make it back there through the narrow opening, but why he had such possessions in the first place. Climbing down off of his back, she moved forward, curious as to what exactly was further back.

"Everyone has a choice in who they mate with. Even if fate brings them together, they are the ones to decide if that is the one for them."

Lucy turned to look at the dragon, curious as to why his voice went from within her mind alone to actually hearing it. What she saw shocked her. Standing before her in all his natural glory was a tall, tanned, well-muscled man with long unruly black hair and warm piercing red eyes with. Where his eyebrows should have been were six metal studs, three above each eye, his ears were lined with the same metal studs, along with two on each side of his nose and two below his lower lip, one on top of the other. As her eyes moved down his body on their own without conscious thought, she took in the four studs that ran along his forearms, going through his nipples, and one each of his hips. Her gaze moved to the well-toned 'V' at the lower part of his abdomen before his voice caught her attention once again and she forced her eyes back to his before she looked off to the side with a deep blush.

"Enjoying the view?" He couldn't help himself, the fact that the disheveled and dirtied woman had found this form so aesthetically pleasing delighted him and he was thoroughly enjoying the deep blush on her pale checks as he turned her face away from him.

"I-I'm…my apologies, I did not know."

He just chuckled as he walked past her, not even bothering to care about his nudity. Other than the swell of pride at her reaction, he really didn't know how else to react to the woman. It wasn't like he had spent a great deal of time around humans, unlike some others of his kind, and human females even less. But it seemed like his nudity was making the woman nervous and uncomfortable, he felt as if she was more willing to speak with him when he was a giant dragon. Moving to the furthest corner of the room, the man grabbed a pair of loose pants and pulled them up before he moved to stoke the fire, grunting at the woman who was still had her back to him with her flaming red face in her hands. "S'fine."

Carefully peeking over her shoulder, making sure the man was at least decent, she turned to face him as she bit her lip. There was so much she wanted to know about the dragon…man…what the hell was she even supposed to refer to him as? "Do you have a name?"

The man just looked up from his place by the fire with a raised brow. He didn't know whether he should be offended by her or not, in the end he settled with amusement and snorted at her absurd question. "'Course I got a name, do you?"

Her eyes widened as she realized that she had failed to offer her name to him. "Oh yes, of course. I'm sorry, my name is Lucy."

The man quirked his brow again at her unusual behavior. "Gajeel."

"_Oi! Why are you bringing me into this story?"_

_The woman looked at the dark haired man innocently and smiled. "Would you rather have another dragon be Lucy's savior? Perhaps I can turn said dragon black and name him Rogue, or Red and name him Natsu?"_

"_Ooh yeah! I wanna be in the story Mira!"_

"_Fuck you Ash-brain, Bunny's mine!" The man turned his attention back to the woman telling the story, waiting for his response. "Fine. You made your damn point…fuckin' demon woman." The blonde next to him giggled as he mumbled obscenities at the story teller, snuggling next to him to escape the cool night chill in the air._

"Well Gajeel, I apologize for earlier…I wasn't aware that dragons could…" She waved her hand in front of her, gesturing toward his now human looking body. She didn't know if all dragons could do that or if it was just him. Was he cursed or only part dragon? How could someone be part dragon?

The man just rolled his eyes at the blonde before him as he leaned back against the stone wall. "Would you quit your apologizin' already? You don't know 'cause us dragons don't want humans knowing that some of us walk and live among them…and you ain't going to go tellin' anyone either."

Lucy shook her head in fascination. There was so much she wished to learn, though she was unsure if it was about dragons or if it was about the being in front of her that she was so enamored with. Though she had never seen another dragon before and she wouldn't know which piqued her interest until she had. "Oh, of course; I would never tell anything that would put you or your kind in danger."

The man just snorted as he reached over and grabbed an old rusted knife before sticking it in his mouth and biting down on it. "I ain't worried about our safety so much as I am the easy way of life I got. I don't want to go back to having to sneak around to get things I need, things I can't get a hold of easily when I look like that overgrown lizard you seem to like so much."

The princess just stared at him wide-eyed as he continued to eat the knife and spoke around the rusted metal in his mouth. "Wh-What things can you not get easily as a dragon?"

Pointing the half eaten knife at the woman that was still standing, he leaned forward with his free hand braced on his knee as he scowled at her. "I'm a dragon no matter what form I'm in, understand?"

"Right, I apologi-I understand."

The dragon nodded his head in approval before he leaned back again and threw the rest of the knife in his mouth, crunching down on it loudly and swallowing before he answered her previous question. "It's easier to get my hands on iron and other metals in this form."

Nodding, Lucy looked around the cave. If it weren't for the fact that she had watched him fly in the cave and had ridden on his back as he ventured deep within the dark confines of it, she never would have thought that they were in essentially in the center of the largest mountain in the country. It was amazing really. It wasn't damp, it wasn't filled with creepy crawlies, and it wasn't gloomy. Despite her heritage and upbringing, she found it rather cozy. With a smile, she took a see opposite him, pleased by the warmth of the fire before her. "Are there other dragons in Fiore? You are the only one I've ever seen?"

Narrowing his eyes, Gajeel almost growled at the thought of the other dragon that had encroached upon his territory. "NO. Other dragons don't wonder around in territories already claimed unless their mated to another dragon. Some do live in groups, most don't. There's a couple of unmated male dragons south of Fiore in Minstrel that share territory and I think there are a pair of siblings that have claimed an area in the east."

"Do all dragons…"

"Enough about me." Gajeel stood over the woman with his arms crossed. "I want to know more about that _man_ you're supposed to mate with. If you're mating with him, why are you running from him?"

With a deep sigh, Lucy lowered her head for a moment before she looked up at him again. "I don't want to marry him, my father is forcing me to. All he can see is more power and more gold coming out of this transaction. That's all my life is worth to him, more land and more gold. As if he doesn't have enough gold. He should be more worried about the economy of his kingdom."

Gajeel knelt down in front of the woman as he finally realized who she was and he smiled to himself. Not only had he brought back a beautiful woman to his lair, but she was the princess no less, worth more than the kingdom itself…or in theory. If what she was saying was true then her father didn't find her worth much at all if he was willing to sell her happiness. But regardless of what the king thought of his only child, she was the most valuable woman in all of Fiore. The question he had to ask himself was WHY. Why did he want her? "I don't like him."

She cocked her head to the side, trying to figure out who the dragon was speaking of before a she failed to suppress a large yawn. "Who do you not like?"

He sneered as he thought of everything he sensed from the man, this time he was unable to suppress his growl of discontent and it had the poor princess staring at him with wide eyes. "Your intended mate; he's pushing his limits by being in my territory." The dragon tilted his head to the side, indicating the bed on the far side of the single open cave room. "Get some sleep."

Pushing past her exhaustion from everything that had happened within the span of a few hours, Lucy looked at the dragon that was now moving around the room. She took in each of the hard well-defined muscles of his back, at least that of what she could see with his long black hair hanging down loosely. "So when you say invading your territory…"

He just looked over his shoulder at the blonde, knowing that she would easily pick up his meaning if he continued on this conversation any further at the moment and he was unsure if he wanted that just yet. Despite what his instincts were telling him, his brain was making him question whether or not he could trust the blonde princess. "We'll discuss it in the morning, when I've figured out what to do about it."

With a nod, the blonde stood and made her way over to the bed. "Where will you be sleeping?" She was eternally grateful that he was willing to house her when he could have just as easily left her in the clearing for her mate…fiancé. "Gajeel?" She turned to look at the man that was making his way out of the cave room, purposefully ignoring her question of his sleeping arrangement. She smiled at him as he turned to her with his brow raised in question. "Why do you keep calling him my mate?"

"That's what it is for dragons. We mate and it's for life. Once you bond your life to a dragon there is no going back, it cannot be undone." He turned his back and walked out of the room into the dark cave entrance before she could ask him any more questions. He needed to think, needed to focus on what he was going to do about this aggressive dragon that had threatened to encroach on what he claimed as his. But what was more disturbing was he was now thinking of the beautiful blonde as his as well.

Pulling off the loose pants he had thrown on for the princess' comfort, Gajeel turned back to the form of his dragon and curled up in front of the opening to the cave room where his princess was sleeping. He had a few choices. He could take the woman back to her father and her intended mate, which would be allowing the other dragon permission to take residence in his claimed land and he sure as hell didn't intend to share; neither his land, nor his princess. His other option was going to be protecting her from the opposing dragon, but keeping her from her family in the process. What he needed to know was what Lucy wanted, that would make his mind up on what exactly his actions would be. One thing he knew for sure though, he wasn't sharing his land and if the woman decided to go back to her castle and kingdom she would go without being forced to mate with that bastard.

Lucy's eyes drifted close as the exhaustion of the evening bore down on her, the coming of age celebration, the decision of who her father had chosen as her husband, her overwhelming fear of the man, her tears and anguish at losing her chance at love…then she ran away, met her dragon, was comforted by said dragon, and…wait…her dragon? She hadn't realized when but at some point during the evening she had made her own claim on him, whether it was during his rescue of her, or part of his teasing she didn't know. But she knew that she didn't want to leave.

Her eyes shot open as Gajeel's words and hidden meanings drifted to her. His hatred for the man she was to marry, his anger at him being in his territory, and his referring to their marriage, that she refused to let happen, as a mating. The man wasn't a man at all; the prince her father wanted her to marry was a dragon himself. She had met another dragon and she wasn't interested in getting to know more about him, instead he provoked a fear deep inside of her the likes of which she had never felt before. No, it was just Gajeel that she was interested in, her dragon.

_Mira looked over at Lucy who had fallen asleep against her mate's chest as she stopped in her story. Several of the people listening had fallen asleep and she could understand why, she had been going on with her story for more than three hours, it was late. She stood as she collected her younger sister from where she had fallen asleep against Natsu. "We'll finish this story another time. I believe we should all get some sleep tonight. Several of you have to be well rested tomorrow for your S-Class Trials, we don't want you too exhausted to focus."_

"_Awe come on Mira, you can't just leave us hanging here." _

_The elder Strauss sibling just smiled at the tired fire dragon slayer as she guided her sister to their tent. "Don't worry Natsu; I'll finish this story another time. You just have to be patient."_

"_Yeah right, I don't think that idiot knows how to be patient." Gray lifted Juvia up and carried her to the tent she was to be sharing with Levy. No, he wasn't being a gentleman about it, she was just sleeping on him and he couldn't get to his own tent with her on top of him like that. He had been so engrossed in Mira's story that he hadn't even realized when the rain woman had lain against him. _

_Jumping up full of energy, the salmon-haired dragon slayer grinned as he lit his fists on fire. "You wanna say that again Popsicle Dick?"_

"_Natsu!" The man paled as the firm unwavering voice called out to him, his fire going out before he quickly ducked into his and Happy's tent. With an approving nod the woman turned to the iron slayer who was getting up with Lucy in his arms. "Thank you Gajeel, you can put Lucy in our tent if you don't mind."_

_The man stopped mid step before he turned his hard red gaze to the woman. "No offense Titania, but after hearing a story where another dragon tries stealing away what's mine, I'm keeping her within my reach. She's stayin' with me and Lily in our tent tonight."_

"_Gajeel."_

_Ignoring her harsh call for him, Gajeel stepped into his tent and laid the blonde down on his sleeping roll before he stuck his hand out of the front of the tent, a single finger extended as he pulled the zipper down to shut the rest of them out. "Ain't no way in hell I'm parting from her tonight."_

"_You're over reacting Gajeel."_

_The man looked over toward his cat and scowled. "Shut it or get out and go sleep with Natsu and Happy. She's stayin'." The cat just chuckled as the man crawled into the sleeping roll with the blonde pulling her close and burying his face in her blonde locks the urge to mark her almost sending him over the edge. _

"_I guess I went a little too far with that story?" Mira stood next to her childhood rival with a smile on her face. Despite the rules that had been set for this camping trip, she was happy that the man loved Lucy enough to defy Erza and take her with him into his own tent._

"_Leave them be." Both women looked up to the lightning dragon slayer that had been put in charge of this event in his grandfather's place, afraid to leave the guild alone as he had last time. "It's a dragon slayer thing. He's afraid that someone is going to take her."_

_Crossing her arms over her chest, Erza stared hard at the tent the man had disappeared in with her tent mate, unhappy with the current turn of events. She didn't think it was fair that he was able to take the girl in his tent when others couldn't have their significant other with them. "Lucy will be just fine with all of us here."_

"_It isn't about that. While he trusts us, he doesn't trust us." The blonde looked at the tent, a crease in his brow as he thought about what was coming and he didn't know how he felt about it. "He'll mark her soon. It's inevitable. Unless she tells him she doesn't want it, the longer he waits, the harder it will be for him to control his inner dragon. If anyone went in and tried to take her out of there he would probably kill them at this point."_

_The red head sighed and shook her head as she turned to enter what was supposed to be hers and Lucy's tent. "Then I suppose there is nothing to be done about it." The further away she got from Mira and Laxus, the more Erza smiled to herself. With Lucy in the tent with her boyfriend she got the entire tent to herself and she could take up as much room as she wished without the blonde complaining like usual._

**A/N: Okay, please don't be mad at me for not putting as much in here. As I was writing this there was so much going through my head that it was too much to put into one chapter. Then I realized that I didn't want to. I plan on taking this concept and making it a story of its own. So keep an eye out for it. And thank you all again for your kind words and encouragement. ~Libra**


	4. Chapter 4

**Okay, this one is definitely rated M. You all have no idea how I seriously almost didn't post this one; and I know, I'm a total perv. But here it is. Honestly, after the last one all I can think about is how I want to keep going with _The Princess &amp; the Dragon_, so this one was really hard to write. **

RULES

Lucy woke to the familiar sight of Gajeel's bare chest as he cradled her in his arms. It wasn't unusual for him to hold her like this in his sleep, nor was it unusual for him to unconsciously run his rough and calloused hands softly up and down her spine while they slept. Though she was a little miffed about why she still had a shirt on and why he had his hand underneath it as he glided his fingers along her spine. Usually she would have gone to sleep without one, something she had started doing after moving in with him a month prior. Most of it stemmed from being too tired after sex most nights to put it back on, and other nights when she did fall asleep clothed, he would always manage getting her out of them just to feel her skin against his. Letting out contented sigh, Lucy snuggled further into his bared chest, breathing in his unique scent of metal and pine.

Her eyes widened in surprise as she remembered that they were in the middle of the woods, camping while on their S-Class trials. She also remembered the rules they were supposed to follow during said camping and while her being in his tent wasn't exactly against the Master's rules, it was against the rules that Laxus had set in place and the Master had made it clear that their blonde dragon slayer was in charge during this little event. She knew how strict the man could be when it came to the rules he had set in place, but she was unsure about how he would handle punishment for any of those that did not adhere to them. She really hoped this didn't ruin their changes of achieving S-Class status. Her body tensed as she realized that she might be taking away the chance for Gajeel to receive the old title he had lost after joining Fairy Tail. Sure she wanted it for herself as well, but losing the opportunity was worth it to her as long as she was able to be nestled safely and comfortably in his arms.

"Don't worry about it. Sparky understands, said it was fine." As if hearing her thoughts, the gruff sleep addled voice brought her out of her moment of panic, only to send a sweeping hot desire surging through her. Looking up, she saw those warm soul searching red eyes that she loved so much staring back at her before she felt his hand pause in his ministrations before pressing his palm flat against her lower back as he pulled her flush against him. She shivered as the hard length of his morning erection pressed against her hip, and as messed up as it was, she wanted him more now than ever…even with all the tents around them occupied with their fellow guild mates and S-Class competitors. She could hear the early morning birds chirping outside and she knew that at least Erza would be awake soon, so if she wanted to take care of their morning romp then she would need to get it taken care of now.

She slowly slide her hand down his abdomen to the waistband of his pants, her fingers pausing at the elastic band momentarily as she teased the man before she moved her hand further down, wrapping it around his thick studded cock. The man had to bite back a groan as her small soft and delicate hand began to slowly pump at his length, pushing his already straining self-control out of the window. He was just glad that Lily had woken up prior to his little voracious bunny. Call him strange, but the thought of being caught drove him further over the edge, needing her with every part of his being.

His hand wrapped itself in the golden locks at the crown of her skull as he pulled her face up to meet his, attacking her lips with a forceful passion he had been holding back from her, unwilling to lose control of himself and possibly hurt her. But at this very moment, he couldn't stop himself. Pulling her hand from his sweatpants, Gajeel growled against her mouth as he rolled over, pinning her to the ground beneath him. As she moved her legs to wrap around his waist he relished the whimper he swallowed as his swollen cock rubbed against her center and his hand moved from her hair to the underside of her breast, teasing her further as he ground himself against her desperately wishing neither of them had the barrier of their clothing.

Lucy gasped for breath as Gajeel released her mouth, only to pull her shirt over her head, leaving her upper torso bare for him. The feral glint in his eyes as he feasted his sight on the bountiful feast before him sent a fresh wave of desire running through her. It was the same image he saw every night, yet there was something in him that she hadn't seen before, and she craved more of it. As his mouth descended onto her breast, taking in her pert dusky nipple into his mouth, she fought the groan that threatened to come out.

The slayer looked up from the meal that was laid out before him, a smirk plastered onto his cocky face before he leaned in close to her whispering lowly, sending more shivers down her spine as his breath ghosted across her neck. "You're gonna have to stay quiet Bunny."

The blonde just nodded before he kissed his way back down to her chest as his right hand moved down her waist and easily slipped into her loose lounge pants, feeling the warm moisture gathering at her core. The feeling of this alone, the proof that she wanted him, and the scent of her forced him into a frenzy as he simultaneously bit down on her nipple and thrust three of his calloused fingers into her, the knuckle of his index finger bumping against her little pearl with each thrust of his hand.

Her eyes widened as the sensations surged through her and she was barely able to move her arm to her mouth fast enough to muffled the desiring scream that tore through her. She had no doubt that the other three dragon slayers would hear them if they were awake, let alone smell them, but she knew that none of them would disturb something this intimate. She knew she should be disgusted at the idea of her guild mates knowing what she was doing, but it just fueled her further. She wanted more, she needed more. Moving her arm away from her mouth as soon as she was sure that she wouldn't scream out to the entire forest, Lucy gasped just loud enough for her dragon to hear her. "More, Gajeel, more."

The dragon within him roared to life as he pulled his hand from her, earning a whimpering disapproval from the blonde woman beneath him. Leaning as far back as he could within the large constricting sleeping bag they were housed in, he gripped the waistband of her pants and pulled at it, ripping them and her lacy boy shorts apart before he slid his own sweats down his thighs and rubbed himself against her, coating his dick in her sticky fluids.

The blonde gasped as each of the piercings in his firm iron rod rubbed against her sensitive nub, her hips bucking at each pass. "Gajeel…" He was teasing her, playing with her, and as much as she appreciated the foreplay and teasing on any other occasion, she just wanted him inside her at the moment, she wanted him planted firmly between her legs and to never leave again. That's when it hit her, just as he shoved his thickness into her, muffling her cry with his own mouth as their bare chests pressed together each thrust he gave her enhancing the already over stimulating experience as the friction of his skin passed her hard and erect nipples.

It didn't matter if she took the rest of their lives to make her decision, her answer would always end up being the same, if it were right now or on the last day of her life. She belonged to him, he owned her heart and her soul, without him she would fall apart completely and she didn't think she would ever be whole without him. Moving her face away from his mouth, she opened it to speak, only to immediately bit down on his shoulder to keep the screams at bay as the hard metal rods running through his shaft continually brushed against just the right spot. Her arms were wrapped around his waist, urging him to keep doing what he was currently doing as her mouth's grip on his shoulder became tighter before she reached her peak. But he wasn't done with her just yet, he wanted her to fall apart completely. He could see the woman was still sane, was still capable of holding a coherent thought; until she was nothing more than a quivering puddle beneath him he was not going to be satisfied.

She panted for breath as she released her hold on him and noticed the metallic taste in her mouth before she looked down to his shoulder and noticed the blood she had drawn from him. Oddly enough, it seemed that her unconscious effort to stay mostly quiet had done nothing to him other than spur him on harder. At this point she was sure that the sound of him slamming against her was louder than the muffled moans coming from the two of them.

Following her instinct, she reached up to run her tongue over the wound she had inflicted, cleaning off any lingering blood that might have leaked from the wound. Gajeel fought to control himself as she made the very dragon-like motion, cleaning the wound inflicted during a mating. The man inside watched as the dragon took control of him and attacked Lucy with more fervor than before, he knew that if he didn't get some semblance of control that he wouldn't be able to keep himself from marking her without her approval or permission. Sure she had just marked him, in theory giving him permission to do the same to her, but they weren't dragons and she didn't know the meaning behind her actions. He knew she had just been trying to keep her loud screams muffled and silent, something she had never had to do before.

As he leaned down to her neck, he rubbed his nose against her as he took in the rich honey and strawberry scent of the woman, laced with his own smell of metal, and the thick smell of sex before he pulled back, knowing he needed control. A growl bubbled from his throat as the blonde's nails dug deep into the lower part of his back, urging him to stay at the unrelenting pace he had been keeping before he started to unconsciously slow. Then he smelled and sensed what the dragon had noticed long before the man had. There was another near them, circling their tent. Then he felt it, the surge of magic as it closed in around them. As much as he hated the feeling of someone else's magic around them as he drove into her, he was appreciative and he knew who was responsible for it.

"Gajeel…" The breathless plea of his name from her lips brought his mind from its dazed fog and he realized he was once again in control. "…do it now. I want it."

Grabbing ahold of her hips, Gajeel angled the blonde just right before he pushed hard into her drawing a cry from her. "What do you want Bunny?"

She gasped, using everything she had to keep the feelings at bay just long enough to convey what she wanted from him. As she lifted her head up to meet his gaze, she felt it, that hunger that was boiling just below the surface, waiting for the chance to devour her; and she knew that she had yet to feel this dragon's unrestrained passion. "Mark me."

The man looked down into the warm honey brown eyes he loved so much as he slowed down to a much softer pace. He knew he never told her enough and he could count on one hand how many times he had verbally told her he loved her. He just wasn't a man comfortable voicing his emotions, he'd rather show her and she accepted that, she accepted him. But at this point he couldn't give in to what she claimed she wanted during the passionate feelings he was invoking within her. He buried his face into the side of her neck, taking a deep breath. He wanted to make sure that this was something that she truly wanted, despite how much it hurt him to say it; that was the first rule of mating and marking for a dragon. Metallicana had taught him that the rules of mating at a young age and had forced him to memorize them and to do everything within one's power to follow those rules. The mating wasn't easy, not just on the intended mate of the slayer, but the slayer itself. He had to force himself to hold back the dragon within him as the man made sure his mate wasn't just voicing their desire in the heat of the moment as humans so frequently did. His muffled breath ghosted across her neck before he pulled back to look into her eyes again. "No."

The pain and betrayal in his Bunny's eyes tore at his heart as she gaped at him, a single tear forming in the corner of her eye. He stopped his slowed and methodical movements inside of her as every bit of surrounding scent of her desire turned to fear and pain. She turned her face away from him as he leaned in closer, tears she had refused to let surface falling at her movement. Gripping her tightly, he move so that he was sitting up, still fully sheathed within her. He kept silent as she started to cry against the shoulder she had bitten. Rule number two, support, he had to be there for her regardless of what she needed, what she felt, and what had happen, despite his own feelings. He didn't know what he was supposed to say to her but he knew that he had to make it right, he couldn't stand to see her like this.

Reaching down, he gently removed the remains of the ripped lounge pants from her legs, leaving her completely bare for him. Despite how often he saw it, the sight of her forced a surge of desire through him. But this wasn't the time for him to think about things like that, this was to be the hardest part of their next step, rule three, him explaining his feelings without the actions associated with them, that's what he was trying to avoid right now. He needed to make sure she understood everything, that he was completely open with her and always honest. He wanted nothing more than to throw her on the ground, mark and fuck her until she could no longer walk straight. But he needed to know that was something she really wanted too. He just held her as she let her emotions out against him while he softly ran one of his hands up and down her spine while the other arm was wrapped tightly around her lower back and waist, keeping her firmly planted in his lap. He wasn't letting her go, he wasn't finished with her yet. If she didn't wish to continue with their love making session that was fine with him, but he was going to get out what he needed to. He refused to lose her to something like this. She was his everything. "Lucy…"

The blonde in his arms stiffened at the use of her name. She knew that it meant either one of two things, one, that he no longer considered her his Bunny, which tore her apart just the thinking about it; or two, whatever he was going to say was important enough for him to use her name. Her red rimmed eyes looked up to meet his own eyes, filled with sorrow and self-loathing. He had once told her that her eyes should never be red like his, that they should stay the bright honey colored ones that he had fallen in love with those years ago after he had kidnapped her from the safe house Fairy Tail had hidden her in. Even in a time such as that, when he was brutal to her, both physically and mentally as he tried driving out his feelings for her…to prove to himself that this wasn't what that feeling was, she hadn't cried as she was now. She had been defiant, spat at him, talked back to him, and insulted him. That was the moment he realized there was something more to her than a spoiled rich girl and he wanted to know what that something was. After Natsu had destroyed her mother's glasses, he had vowed to never let her cry like that again; and here he was, with her in his lap and her tears a consequence of his own actions.

Letting out a deep sigh, he rested his head against her shoulder before he shook his head, hating himself at the moment, but sticking to his will. "I'm sorry. I don't want you upset." He paused, waiting for her to voice her acerbic thoughts of him or push him away, but when only silence met him he took it as his cue to continue. "Lucy I want to mark you. Gods, I want that more than anything…" He moved his head and looked into her eyes, his hands moving up to her face to wipe away the lingering tears before he rested his forehead against hers as his hands remained on the sides of her face. "…but I can't, not until I know that is what you want without a doubt."

Lucy pulled away from the man and stared at his hardened features, unsure how to take his words. She felt as if he wasn't trusting her judgment when she told him that was what she had wanted, what she still wanted. His grip around her waist tightened and she looked at him through blurry eyes, trying to read him. Usually she had no trouble doing so, while his outward appearance may always be that of a cold and uncaring man, he held all of his emotions in his eyes and she saw it all. But right now, she didn't know what to make of him. In those beautiful crimson eyes she saw the anger, sorrow, pain, the hope, confusion, and the love he still held for her. It was that last emotion that blared bright in his eyes that gave her the strength to stay there with him, to hear what he had to say; because she knew he still loved her.

Reaching up to him, she cupped his face between her palms and forced him to look her in the eyes before she took a chance and lightly kissed him. "Gajeel, talk to me baby." She fought back the tears that wanted to fall forward again, knowing that now wasn't the time for them.

Taking courage from Lucy, Gajeel nodded his head pushing to put his feelings and action into words. She knew it was something that he didn't like doing, it was too easy for others to use those words against him. So she waited patiently while he gathered his thoughts. "I don't want to do something that you don't want, Bunny."

She gave him a warm smile as relief washed through at the use of the name he had given her, a name that only he was allowed to use. Moving her hands from each side of his face to his hair, Lucy held a handful of it in each hand before she pulled him roughly forward, his mouth crashing into hers. The blonde woman dominated the kiss as her dragon wrapped each of his arms around her and pulled her flush against him, his mouth working in time with hers, letting her take control, to take this to where she wanted it to go. As her hips started to grind against him, stimulating his softening dick, he pulled back, questioning her actions. The little insatiable blonde just smiled as she moved to his jaw and worked her way up to his ear, whispering. "Gajeel, I want everything with you."

Pulling back she looked at the man, meeting his wide red eyes with a smile. "It doesn't matter if I make my mind up today or three years from now, my answer will always be the same. I could have told you that the first time you claimed me in front of everyone in the guild. What I needed was time to prepare myself for the pain of accepting your magic within me. I want and love everything about you Gajeel. I want everyone to know I'm yours and I want everyone to see the marks you leave on me." Her eyes darkened as she remembered the unrivaled passion she had seen in his eyes only moments before he had stopped. "Mark me Gajeel, claim me like the dragon you are."

It wasn't a request like it had been before, it was a demand, a demand that he felt obligated to fulfill. Gajeel claimed her mouth as soon as those words passed her full pink lips as his hand moved behind her head, supporting her while he shifted their position. He was working on pure instinct now, having been reassured that she did want this and that she wouldn't change her mind. The blonde beauty knew what she was getting herself into and she jumped into it head first, prepared for the consequences of their mating. Prepared for the pain that they both knew was coming to her.

Her hips bucked against him, trying to ride him as best as she could while he shifted to his knees. She gasped as he moved his mouth from hers and trailed a line of gentle nibbles and kisses along her jawline to her ear. "I love you, Lucy," he whispered before he moved down her neck and began focusing his attention there, thrusting into her as he held her body above the ground.

His words sent a chill of pleasure running through her and she thread her fingers through his hair, her fingers digging into his scalp before they moved to his shoulders, allowing her to better leverage to thrust up to him from her suspended position. "Gods, Gajeel…I need you."

He hummed his pleasure at hearing her words against her neck, knowing she needed to hit her first climax before he bit, reducing the discomfort and pain on her part. But he was having a difficult time once again in holding back his dragon instincts. It seemed after she had claimed she wanted it the dragon had lost all patience in waiting and was trying to surge forth again, he needed to have Lucy reach her peak before he lost all control. "Lucy…" He panted breathless from both the feeling of her tightening around him and the struggle with holding back the dragon that had wanted her the moment he had first laid eyes on her. "…I need you to come first…" His grip around her back tightened as he began to roughly pull her against him each time he thrust forward. His teeth scrapped against her skin as he was losing his battle for control and quickly coming to his own release. "…come for me, Bunny."

The sensation of his teeth against her skin and the desperate need in his husky voice pushed her further than she had imagined, and just as she was about to scream out her release, she remembered they were surrounded by their friends and she dug her fingernails into his shoulders as she bit her lip, trying to muffle her screams. "Don't hold it in, Bunny…I want to hear it."

As soon as his words hit her ears, she immediately complied, forgetting why she had tried to keep it quiet in the first place and the already immeasurable pleasure running through her increased as she felt his sharp teeth pierce the top of her shoulder as he hit his release. Her back coming in contact with the softness of his sleeping bag passed her attention as his teeth stayed latched to her and he moved his right hand to her hip. He groaned again as she shifted her hips against him again, bringing him again to be completely aware of how much he needed her. He lifting her just enough so he knew that spot to hit and started the process over again. He was going to mark again, to show everyone that the little blonde bunny was his and his alone.

The blonde screamed again as another climax rushed through her before she had a chance to come down from the first, his motions not once faltering as he continued to ravage her. Her breaths came out in ragged gasps as she felt the foreign warmth of his magic pulsing through her entire body just as the man release his hold on her shoulder and move to the other side, nuzzling the area and inhaling her scent as his hand drifted down to press against her clit as he continued his relentless assault. Just as she felt the stirring of a third climax, she felt his teeth graze her shoulder and bit down again. Her strangled gasp turning into a cry of both pain and untold pleasure. She tightened her grip on his back, drawing blood as she raked her fingers down his back while trying to get more of him, to consume him herself. She needed more of him, she needed him harder, faster. "More. I need more Gajeel!"

Removing his grip of her shoulder, the dragon slayer licked at her wounds, making sure there was no blood leaking from them before he sat back and gripped her leg firmly in his hand. He spread her wide, allowing himself to see himself disappearing within her and coming back out coated in more and more of her divine nectar. The sight along urged him to push faster, but her pleas of needing more of him spurned him to give his mate what she needed, to prove he could give her everything she could ever desire and if that was only to satisfy her in in bed than he would go above and beyond to make her never regret choosing him. Rule four, always provide her with what she needs and what she wants. Dragons mated for life, and for them it wasn't an issue like it was for humans. When a pair of dragons mated they gave everything they had to their mates, ensuring that they were always happy and satisfied.

Lucy threw her head back as a cry was ripped from her throat, her hands continually searched for something to grasp onto, finally settling on the only thing she could get her hands on, the disheveled sleeping roll itself. The weight of her body on it provided enough leverage for her to be able to pull against it and give her hips more thrust to meet his unrelenting pace. Her eyes opened wide as the orgasm she was hit with came from nowhere, one moment she was fighting trying to pull more from him and he next all she could see and feel was the release that she hadn't felt coming and the man above her as he faltered in his stride before redoubled his efforts in his erratic thrusts. She was sure that as soon as she they came down from their self-induced highs that she was going to feel ever little scrape and bruise.

"Fuck! Bun…Lucy…one more…give me one more, baby." She watched the strained face of the man above her, marveling at the determination of the dragon slayer as he fought to hold out for her when he was so obviously suffering for it. But who was she to deny the man what he needed, the look on his face as he closed his eyes tightly to push it back and the growl he emitted in his struggle was enough to send another fresh wave of heat through her. When he opened those eyes and met her gaze she threw her head back with a scream, white hot heat coursing through her from the unbridled passion the man was displaying. It was the same dragon that she had seen before and it was giving her everything it could without making her hurt too bad.

Gajeel through his head back with a tremendous roar, one befitting of the dragon Lucy claimed she wanted as he felt her walls close down on him tighter than he had ever felt them. There was no way he could have held off any longer even if he had wanted to, something had pushed her further than she had ever been with him and he wanted her to experience that every time they laid together.

Collapsing down next to his beautiful sweating Bunny, Gajeel cradled her in his arms, licking and kissing each of the marks on her, trying to help ease some of the pain that he knew was going to come from them within the next day. That and her body was going to be extremely sore from how rough he was with her. But the look in her eyes told him that she planned to drive him even further next time, not only would she force him to lose control, but she wanted to push the dragon that dwelled within him over the edge as well and that thought sent shivers down his spine. "How do you feel?"

The blonde rolled closer against him and felt the pull of her wounds on her neck. She hadn't realized that he would give her two of them, but she didn't mind. Looking up at him with a contented smile on her face, Lucy buried it into his chest and let out a deep sigh, she was exhausted. "I feel fine." She had expected more pain than what she had experienced, but she could only assume that it was just played up by others who didn't have a dragon as attentive to their needs as hers was.

Yes the second bite had hurt, she hadn't even realized he had bitten her the first time, only the feeling of his dragon slayer magic; and yes the feeling of his foreign and lost magic coursing through her was uncomfortable, but she was just under the impression that was why the entire thing was done during mating, or sex. She had so many endorphins and so much pleasure running through her that a little discomfort didn't do anything to diminish how much amazing it was. "Why'd you do it twice?"

The man just shrugged as he pulled her closer to himself before pulling a stray blanket over the two of them. He noticed her breathing had started to even out and that she was falling asleep and he just smiled at her peaceful expression. He leaned down to her ear, whispering gently. "I wanted to make sure everyone knew you were taken, that you were mine."

A smile lit her face as his words filtered through her half sleeping mind before a frown appeared and she opened her eyes to look at his concerned expression. He was afraid that the pain had started to set in, he had been told that it would be painful for her and that there was nothing he could do to ease it. Which was the fifth and final rule of the mating, to always protect the mate. Though the thought he had remembered his father telling him the only time it wouldn't hurt her, but he could only suppose that was one of the days the two of them had been stubborn and he refused to learn any of it. "But I didn't get to mark you."

Her softly whispered words brought a smile to his face before he sat up and showed her his shoulder. There displayed in an irritated bright red from where her blunt teeth had pierced his skin was a perfect mold of her teeth and he had no doubt that it would eventually morph into something else, just like his marks would change on her. "Yeah you did Bunny. Now go to sleep. Sparky isn't going to expect us until tomorrow, or late this afternoon. You're supposed to be in too much pain."

"Mmm…but I don't hurt."

He tightened his grip around her, grinning down at the mumbling blonde. "That's good Bunny, I don't want you to hurt."

"Just means you did it right." A wide shit eating grin spread across her face as she looked up at him while she tried to force her eyes to stay open. "That you made me feel so good that I didn't notice it." The dragon slayer just chuckled at her, knowing that wasn't really the case. But he had to admit, it made him sound good.

"How long do you suppose they'll be in there?" The green haired man just looked at the tent with wide eyes, his skin having gone a bit paler as his leader had explained what was going on that morning when he had drug him out of his tent with his own S-Class team member, Bickslow, and demanded that he put runes around the tent, preventing any scent, or sound from getting through.

The blonde just shook his head as he turned away and began gathering everyone to explain why they wouldn't be doing anything that day. He was not looking forward to it and hoped that the other two dragon slayers would be better able to help without giving away too much personal information and calming the nerves of two of the girl's team mates. "They might come out for dinner. Blondie's going to be in pain for a while." He just shook his head at the actions of the two people resting in the tent. "This wasn't the best time for them to complete it, but after his surge of protective and possessiveness during Mira's story last night, I had a feeling it would be happening soon."

"So this could give us an advantage over them during the trials?"

Both men turned to look at their team mate, his soul filled dolls flying overhead. As much as he wanted this to be fair for all of them, he also wanted S-Class status and he had a feeling that Cosplayer and her dragon were going to be their biggest competition. While Ever and Elfman had gone on jobs together before and worked fairly well together, the two of them fought constantly, many times taking their attention off of their surroundings.

Gray seemed to spend too much time trying to keep Juvia off of him than focusing on their goal, let alone the girl drifting off into lala land as she imagined her different fantasies play out. Then while Levy and Cana were both amazing wizards in their own right, neither of them had ever worked together before and that was going to be to their disadvantage while going against S-Class opponents and other teams that knew each other's strengths and weaknesses. Finally, there was Natsu and Wendy. While Natsu was a force to be reckoned with, he was reckless and predictable when it came to fighting his friends and while he and Wendy worked well together on Team Natsu, she was still a timid girl who had no confidence in her abilities. No, Lucy and Gajeel were who they deemed their greatest opponents. The two not only worked well together, they lived together, and their personal fights were forgotten as they walked onto the battle field, and they knew each other's strengths and weaknesses as well as they knew their own. Then add in that the strongest of them had the urge of a dragon to protect the weakest, who wasn't really weak, the woman was just as smart as Freed.

The blonde dragon slayer chuckled at Bickslow's words as he walked away, knowing better than to underestimate his adopted sibling's ability to handle a little pain. "I think you underestimate Blondie, Bix. Don't let your guard down around her, she's dangerous."

"Okay, since everyone has decided to join us today...we can get started on the next day of your trials. I hope you all enjoyed your day off, I know some of us did." Laxus' hard gaze moved between both Lucy and Gajeel with a smirk on his face.

It had been difficult for Lucy to come out of the tent with the man she was now completely mated to when she realized how loud she had been with him and her fears were only doubled as she met the hard gaze of the man she considered her sibling. But she was grateful, he had pulled Freed from his tent in the early morning to set up runes, giving them as much privacy as they could have in a tent surrounded by their friends. They may have all known what was going on, but at least none of them could hear them, or worse…smell them.

She stood, fidgeting as the eldest dragon slayer leaned casually against a nearby tree with his arms crossed, staring hard at the tent as she stepped out. He knew what was going on and he had known that it was going to happen eventually, but that didn't mean that he wasn't worried about the blonde woman. The rules of a dragon slayer taking a mate fully weren't easy to follow and the mate could end up seriously hurt if the slayer wasn't careful. But it seemed that his faith in the iron slayer was founded as the man wrapped his arm protectively around his little sister's waist.

Later he would have to ask why the man had marked both sides of the girl's neck when only one was necessary. But he just assumed that it had something to do with the man's naturally aggressive instincts. Instincts that had become even more pronounced since he had claimed Lucy. He only dreaded the thought of how bad the slayer would be if the blonde ever carried his child.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: This title is also an M rated chapter and probably the last one for this week. I seriously started this one like five times before I was finally forced to accept it, so I apologize if it is not up to par. **

Cosplay

Lucy growled to herself as she once again had a drunken man slap her on the ass as she walked by with a tray of drinks. She couldn't believe she had let Gajeel talk her into doing this, and why? Because it was one of their first S-Class jobs and he liked the sound of it. Working undercover at one of the newer casinos at Akane, The Cosplay Casino, weeding out the wizards that have been causing havoc along the strip. The manager had received threats against the new casino and he had promptly put in a request to have a couple of guild wizards on hand. So, here she was on the floor of Cosplay Casino serving drinks to the many gamblers with Gajeel surveying and monitoring the surrounding area, both of them were to be keeping their eyes opened for any suspicious looking behavior or people. This was the only casino on the strip that had yet to be hit by what the media was calling the biggest heist of the country and the group responsible was suspected to have at least one mage in their numbers.

She turned and gave a sweet smile to the elderly man that reminded her a little too much of their guild master, in both looks and behavior, only this man was taller. She did everything she could to blend in with the rest of the cosplaying waitresses, smiling kindly, lightly flirting with the gamblers, and encouraging them to bet more and drink more, which really wasn't that hard for her considering the type of behavior many of her guild mates participated in. But if you were to ask her, every single man that slapped her ass or tried to grope her deserved the punishment Gajeel would undoubtedly reap upon them if he found out.

"Hey baby, why don't we forget the drink and you and me go up to my room and make like bunnies?" Lucy's eyes widened as the man wrapped his hands around her waist, pulling her down into his lap. The smell of stale tobacco and cheap cologne making her nauseous again.

Shaking her head, Lucy pushed the man away as she stood, stumbling back and bumping into another brunette waitress. The woman was dressed in a tight black leather corset and tight leather pants with a pair of cute black stilettos and a pair of kitten ears on her head. She held her arms out, bracing the blonde's shoulders as looked into her glassy eyes. "Lucy, are you okay?"

"Yeah…just a little nauseous. I swear if another one of these sick perverts touches me again in any way, I'm calling Gajeel down here."

The girl's eyes widened at the implication. If Lucy got Gajeel involved they would, in the woman's mind, be undoubtedly fired. Regardless if the man was handsy with her or any other waitress, they were not allowed to cause direct confrontation with the guests. Though Lucy was pretty sure Gajeel could come up with something that would allow him to take the asshole outside and beat the shit out of him. "Lucy…"

"I know, I know…" She pinched the bridge of her nose before lowering her hand and looked at the brunette. "…that would not be good." The blonde refused to fail in her first job as an S-Class wizard. She was going to do this and she was going to succeed regardless of how nauseous these disgusting men made her and how disgusting their hands made her feel. Turning back around, she picked up her discarded serving tray and gave a sickeningly sweet smile to one of the men at the table before she turned around and walked back to the bar to get another order.

Despite knowing she could handle herself, Gajeel couldn't focus completely on the job at hand, his eyes kept drifting across the casino floor to his bunny girl. He had to admit, despite how weird it was for the casino to require their waitresses to dress as random animals, he had to admit how delicious his little bunny looked in her bunny get-up. What he didn't like was the way all the men were watching her, their eyes following her across the room as she walked away from them to fill their orders. He really couldn't blame them, he could barely keep his eyes off of her. But dressed with white bunny ears on her head and black fingerless gloves on her hands to match her black combat boots. His eyes drifted up her long legs clad in black fish net stockings and tiny red leather shorts with a small white cotton tail and a black and red leather corset that was pushing her large chest up a little too high, she was drawing way too much attention to herself from almost every man in the casino…and he didn't like it.

The look on her face at the moment had him scrunching his brow in concern as she spoke with the kitten waitress she was sharing an area with. Her face was pale and seemed to have a slight green tint to it. He relaxed a little as she seemed to collect herself and turn away from woman, whose eyes immediately sought him out and shrugged before turning the opposite direction from his Bunny.

The man let out an almost inaudible growl as a drunken woman grabbed ahold of his arm, pulling him with her as she headed toward the door, taking his eyes away from his bunny. "Come on darling, a man like you can do better than work security in this shitty casino; come with me and I'll give you anything you can ever imagine."

Gajeel felt a pull toward the woman as her words soothed him, wrapping around his soul while promising him endless pleasure, whatever he wanted…even the deepest desire within his soul. His mind automatically went to Lucy and the thought of peeling her out of the sexy little get up she was wearing. He wanted nothing more than to taste her and bend her over, before burying himself inside of her slick and warm folds for the rest of his life. The hand on his arm pulled him, promising him his only wish…only the scent he was breathing in wasn't the strawberries and honey that he wanted and desired to smell. No, this one was the smell of a too heavy, too sweet cologne with a hint of peppermint from the gum the woman was gnawing on.

He paused in his steps forward before he kept moving, whatever spell the woman had been using was similar to illusion spells – once you knew it wasn't real it no longer affected you. He discreetly looked around, trying to find a way to apprehend the woman without being too obvious. As he rounded the corner, leaving the main floor of the casino, he took his chance and grabbed the woman around her wrist to stop her. Surprise was written on her face as she noticed he was no longer under her spell.

Gajeel dodged a swing from the woman and elbowed her in the face before he glanced over his around the corner to check on the blonde bunny across the casino. His eyes landed on Lucy pinned against the wall by a large man. Regardless of the fact that he was supposed to keeping an eye on the woman, taking her in, and finding out what she was doing, there was no way that he was going to let anyone get away with touching Lucy. "Oh fuck no!"

The woman turned to see her target distracted and moved to escape his grasp, only to let out a surprised cry as the angry man grabbed her by her hair and slammed her head against the nearby wall before he deposited her with casino security, ordering them to contact the Rune Knights before he bolted out to find Lucy. His eyes moved around the casino floor to no avail. Moving to the side of the casino where he had last seen her, shoving men as he forced them out of his way.

He could just make out her scent as he reached the dark shadowed corner he had seen them in, mixed with that of smoke, liquor, and the hundred other smells that lingered around the casino. There he spotted her keys, tossed in the darkened corner. He growled menacingly, startling several of the casino's guests. He knew that Lucy would never willingly leave her keys behind and he knew that she wouldn't have gone down without a fight either. Following what he could, he made his way outside before it all disappeared. There was nothing, as if her scent of honey and strawberries was never there. Growling deep in his throat, he turned and stormed back into the casino, intent on finding where they had taken his Bunny. His only lead…the woman who had tried to use her own magic on against him.

Kicking his way through the locked door, Gajeel ignored the knights that were standing there speechless at his abrupt behavior before he grabbed the woman by the throat and shoved her harshly against the wall, a sick and demented smile spreading across his face as her head bounced off of it. Crying out in pain, the woman looked between him and the knights standing in the room, unsure of what to do, silently begging them for help. "I want to know where you're group is hiding! Where the hell did they take her?"

"Gajeel…"

The man turned to look at the door as the tall man with a scar beside and under his left eye walked through. Gajeel just growled as he moved his gaze from the man who stopped beside him to the woman grasping his hand, trying to loosen his iron tight grip. "Fuck off Doranbolt, this bitch knows where she is and I'm gonna find her."

Placing his hand on the man's arm, Doranbolt tried his best to calm the raging man down. He had an idea who he was speaking about, yet he needed to make certain and he needed to make sure the iron dragon slayer didn't harm the woman too much. "Gajeel you need to calm down."

The slayer dropped the woman on the ground as he turned his icy glare to the Council Intelligence Officer. "Don't tell me to calm the fuck down. Bunny Girl is gone…and she knows where they took her!" He pointed his finger to the woman lying on the floor, laughing as she heard the man's accusation.

Turning back to the woman, Gajeel kicked her in the stomach, sending her slamming against the wall with cry. "You find something funny bitch? You're the one going to jail for theft and kidnapping." Kneeling down next to her, he lifted her head up by her hair to look into her muddy brown eyes. "So why don't you tell me where my Bunny is and you might get a lighter sentence."

The woman sneered at him before she spat at his feet. Growling, he wrenched the woman's head back before he slammed her face into the floor. Turning back to the man who was considered a friend of Fairy Tail, Gajeel sneered at him. "Fuck all of you. That bitch is part of whatever is going on here. You don't want to arrest her, fine. But I'm going to find Lucy with or without your help."

"Gajeel, you don't…"

"I'll fucking find her. You just be good little Council lapdogs and wrap things up here; me and Bunny already took care of most of it for you."

* * *

Gasping, Lucy opened her eyes to see nothing but darkness. The air was wet and dank with the musty smell of mildew. She remembered what had transpired in the casino and winced at her stupidity, she hadn't even known the man was a wizard until it was too late. Gajeel was never going to let her live that down…and she'd be damned, she had to live with him for the rest of their fucking lives. Reaching down she felt for the small little pouch she carried on her belt containing her keys, only it wasn't there. It seemed that when the shadow wizard had cornered her, made perverted comments to her, and felt her up, he had taken her keys. Which means he knew that she was a wizard. Her only question now was did they know Gajeel was there with her and did they get to him. If not, she had no doubt that her dragon would come for her. But that in no way meant that she was just going to sit here and wait for him to come rescue her like some weak little girl.

Feeling her way down the wall, she looked for some type of door or window, they had gotten her down her somehow, now she just needed to figure out how and get back out. Between Erza and Gajeel, she was fairly confident that she could handle anyone that came at her, so long as there was only one of them. Then again if they were a wizard, which she knew at least one of them to be, if there was even more than one, she didn't know if she'd be able to take them on with no weapon.

"Sterling isn't back yet. You think she got caught?"

Lucy froze at the faint voice, recognizing it as the one who had attacked her in the casino. She didn't want to stay in the dank room, basement, or wherever she was any longer than she needed to, but she didn't want to throw herself head first into a situation that she wasn't sure she could handle alone either. At this point, with what little she knew, her best options were to stay put, learn what she can from them and wait for Gajeel. If anything else came up then she would make a move, she was pretty sure she was standing close to the door and could get out easily if she needed to.

"Can't have. No one's ever broke free of her casting before. My bet is she took the other one to have a little fun with him before she dealt with him. You know how she is, anytime someone's the least bit attractive she thinks she has to have a taste."

"I don't know, I wouldn't underestimate the man. He's a dragon slayer and I doubt someone like Sterling has ever gone head to head with someone like a slayer and came out on top."

"I'm still saying we should wait before we move. Her magic is like illusions, only it does not affect the eyes. So long as a target has their hearing they'll fall to it."

A chill went through Lucy's spine as she heard the man's words of another wizard attacking Gajeel, and a woman no less. Anger surged through her at the thought that anyone would touch what was hers; and Gajeel was hers. She had accepted his claim, she had dealt with his possessive dragon tendencies, and she'd been the one to mark him. The man bore her mark of two golden keys against his shoulder, just as she had the same iron studs running along her shoulders that he had throughout his body. Gathering her courage, she pushed past her anxiety and slowly reached out to feel for the door.

She stuck her head around the corner to see they were in some type of old mining system and that there were only two of them within her sight. She knew one of them used shadow magic and there were plenty of shadows around for him to use and manipulate, so she surmised that he needed to go down first…quickly. "You boys really don't know who you're messing with do you?"

Reaching out, she kicked the shadow user in the side of his knees, pushing the sickening crack out of her mind. During all of her training with both Erza and Gajeel, none of them had ever pull their full strength in any of their attacks, magical nor physical. She hadn't expected such a sound from her attack, but she thought of Gajeel and what could be happening to him. "What's this? Does the bunny think she can take us both out? You have no keys little bunny. You can't do anything without your keys."

Narrowing her eyes, Lucy kicked the man in the chest, sending him skidding back until his head collided with the earth wall on the other side of the room. She growled deep in her throat, resembling the dragon she was mated to. "_You_ are not allowed to call me that." She turned her attention to the second man, the one too confident in their female companion's abilities. The look of fear on the man's face sent a swell of pride through her. "Tell me, why take me?"

Pushing his fear aside, the man just smirked as he held his hand out beside him and a glow emitted from his palm. Smiling at her before a sword fully manifested in his grasp. "Simple, you were leverage in case the plan went south. We knew the dragon slayer would do whatever we wanted if you were in our hands, even allowing us access to any part of the casino we wanted. But it seems you're more tenacious and not as weak as initially believed." The man lunged at her with his sword, barely missing her as she spun out of his way, desperately looking around for some type of weapon, any weapon. Looking over toward the side of the main mining shaft, Lucy smiled as an idea began to form in her head.

With a deep breath she paused and waited for the man to rush at her, his sword held high in the air. She watched as he swung it down at her with all of his force, determined to take care of her in one blow. The blonde chuckled as the dust from the rock and dirt settled while the man tried to pull his sword out of the wall. The man had obviously not thought that she would be quick enough to move at the last moment, but she'd be damned if she let a half assed requip wizard like this fool defeat her. Erza would never let her get over it. Instead of wasting time trying to pry out the sword, the man just held his hand out again to summon another weapon, slowly the handle appeared in his hand. This one more along the lines of Lucy's choice. She was an expert with one, she just needed

Gajeel stood outside holding Lucy's keys. He had tried summoning one of them only to fail. He never would have thought that using a holder magic would have been so complicated. He knew that she had always used a special incantation when summoning any spirit for the first time, but for the life of him he couldn't remember what it was, let alone if he had the power to summon any of them in the first place. Yet somehow he just felt like he knew the way to go and he didn't know if it was her keys guiding him to their contract holder or whether it was something else, but he was confident that he was heading in the right direction. Then the wind had picked up, leaving a vaguely familiar scent of darkness and shadows reached him, immediately recognizing it as the smell that was surrounding Lucy's in the casino. That's when he knew that he was being guided by someone or something; whatever it was he'd take it.

Moving as fast as he could, Gajeel followed the scent and the pull to an abandoned train station that happened to be connected to the town's old underground mines. As he crept through the deserted shafts, he heard a short cry of pain that sounded a little too familiar for his liking before a way too appeased laugh followed it. Determined to make the bastard who had hurt her pay, he ran ahead praying that she was be virtually unharmed. But he knew with her there was no telling, his girl wouldn't give them the satisfaction of allowing them to hear her pain. He had literally beat the shit out of her and she had taken it all in stride, still finding the gall to stand up to him and criticize everything he had done to her. It was one of the first things that he admired about her, besides her enormously large chest and her good looks. People tended to underestimate her, even he did at first, but one thing was for sure…his Bunny didn't take shit from anyone. "Hang on Bunny Girl."

Lucy dodge another lash of the man's whip, still holding her arm where she had been hit previously. But thanks to her own mastery of the weapon she was pretty much able to figure out what the man's next move was before he initiated it. Then she realized that he wasn't just blindly attacking her, he was herding her. She stood pinned against a wall, the most she could do was move to an angle that wouldn't hurt her as much, so she did. Turning her back to the man, she winced and let out a slight whimper as the whip collided with her back, she refused to give the man the satisfaction of hearing her cry out in pain.

"Come on little rabbit, scream for me!"

Lucy waited for the next lash to come, timing her next move carefully. After his next strike, she could move in too close for him to use his weapon. Only when she expected the next lash, it never came. Carefully and slowly, she turn her face to look behind her and see the man's whip wrapped around a large iron battering ram that looked all too familiar. Her eyes lit up as she moved her gaze up the iron to see it attached to the man she loved. His eyes full of hate and anger as he glared at the man. He changed his arm back to normal, never letting go of the whip as he looked over at Lucy with that cocky smile on his face.

"What kind of shit have you gotten yourself into this time, Bunny?" She just smiled at him as he held her keys up and tossed them to her with a wink.

"You! Sterling was supposed to take care of you!"

Gajeel just smirked at the man before he crossed his arms, content on letting his Bunny take this man out now that she had means to do so. "Oh, you mean the woman who promised me all my deepest desires?" He shrugged as he tilted his head over to Lucy. "She already does that. Besides, her magic has a flaw. She didn't smell like the only thing I desire."

Lucy felt a slight blush in her cheeks as she pulled out one key. "Open gate of the lion, LEO!"

The light from Loke's appearance was especially bright in the dark mining tunnel, yet Lucy seemed to be the only one unaffected by it. For once the lion didn't come out flirting, instead he was pissed as he turned to face the enemy. He charged at the man just as he was attempting to summon another sword, only Loke was able to dodge his blow and send a punch to the man's face.

"Oi, you couldn't beat that little fucker? I thought for sure you'd be able to handle any Requip wizard you went up against after training with the Titania."

The blonde narrowed her eyes at her dragon slayer. "You better watch it dragon boy. I didn't have my keys, and someone told me I couldn't carry my whip with me while serving drinks. The only thing I could have accomplished without those was Urano Metria…and trust me I considered it, but I was afraid it would bring this entire place down on my head."

Loke turned to Lucy and bowed before her, holding her hand tightly as he bowed before her. "Princess, my deepest apologies for not being here for you sooner. It seems that I am only able to open my gate near you is when you are in possession of my key." He turned his hard gaze to Gajeel before he stalked toward the man, intent on throwing a punch at the man. "And you…how dare you let my princess get taken! You're supposed to be…"

"Force gate closure!" Lucy held Loke's key in her hand with narrowed eyes before she turned away and pulled out Virgo's key, summoning the maid to help bind the two men so they could be taken back. She was pissed. The lion knew better than to assume that she always needed someone to protect her. She would have gotten out on her own without her keys, it just would have taken her longer to accomplish it.

"Gajeel are you sure you don't want help carrying those men? I can summon Taurus to help." Lucy watched as Gajeel drug the men behind him, a sadistic grin spread across his face every time either of them groaned from their injuries.

"I got it Bunny. A little extra punishment isn't going to kill them and they deserve worse than what they're getting."

* * *

Lucy stepped into their room and sighed. As glad as she was to be finished with the job, she was tired and sore and she definitely needed to get the wound on her arm taken care of. This had to be the first job she had ever been on where nothing was destroyed. The manager of the casino had been so thrilled at the prospect of having not one but two S-Class wizards accept his job and not destroy anything. The only damage was a few guest that had been scared when Gajeel had taken down the female illusion wizard and when he had stormed through the center of the casino floor looking for Lucy, both of which were things that could be easily taken care of.

Reaching around her, Gajeel wrapped his arms around Lucy's waist from behind as he leaned in close and took in her unique scent. "Did I tell you how incredibly sexy you look in that bunny outfit?"

The blonde giggled at him before she pulled out of his arms and stuck her ass out for him to see. "But I lost my tail at some point. What kind of bunny doesn't have a fluffy little tail?"

Grinning, he stalked toward her, a predator advancing his prey as he cornered her in the far side of the room. Without a second thought, he hooked his hands under her ass and lifted her up to wrap her legs around his waist as he carried her into the bathroom. "My Bunny, that's what kind." Burying his face in in her neck, he stuck his tongue out, licking each of the studs that adorned her and earning a groan of approval from the blonde.

"Gajeel?"

Depositing her on the bathroom counter, Gajeel removed her boots before he looked more closely at her wounded arm before backing away with a pointed glare. "Stay." Sitting on the bathroom counter, Lucy watched the bathroom door, waiting for him to come back. With a sigh she began pulling at the strings of her corset, only to wince as she moved her arm too much. "What are you doing?" The man just reached behind her and stopped her hands from messing with the strings of the corset. He'd get her out of that after he got her wounds taken care of.

Wrapping the wound in clean bandages, Gajeel kissed the top of Lucy's head before he looked into her eyes and began to undo the laces to her corset. "Bunny, I'm sorry." He hated himself at the moment, seeing Lucy's abduction as his fault. If he had been able to take care of the female wizard quicker then he would have been able to get to Lucy faster before the man was able to take her.

"Gajeel, I know that look. Don't. This…" She motioned to her wrapped arm, never taking her eyes off of the man. "…this is not your fault."

The man ignored his mate as he continued to remove the corset from her, freeing her large chest from its tight confines. The woman let out a breath of relief as she was able to expand her lungs to full capacity one again. That hadn't been a feeling she'd missed from her old life back as an heiress. "Damn it Gajeel! Look at me!" She grabbed his face between her hands and looked down into his red eyes. It was a sight she never wanted to see there again, full of pain, fear, and anguish. "Look Dragon Boy, I'm fine. This could have happened at any time, with or without you. You did your job and I did mine. You just did yours better. There is nothing to worry about and nothing to blame yourself for."

Standing between her knees, he wrapped his arms around her waist and leaned his head against her bare chest as she ran her fingers through his soft unruly hair. He fought to keep the emotion away from him as he imagined something happening to her, if he hadn't been able to find her. He just held her for what seemed like ages, pulling her tighter against him as she continued to run her fingers comfortingly through his hair, brushing it out of his face and wondering what happened to the bandana that he usually wore to keep it out of his face. She winced as he squeezed her a little too tightly, his face shooting up immediately to assess any more damage done to her.

The blonde pretended to not notice the redness of his eyes or the salty tracks running down his face in his brief lapse in his emotional control; instead she just pointed to her back with a frown as she remembered the whip that hat hit her on her back as well. Moving to the side, Gajeel looked in the mirror at the small cut on her upper back before it immediately faded to a red whelp. It seemed that the leather of her corset had done what it could to protect her flawless skin.

Leaning her against his chest as he stood between her knees, she wrapped her arms around his waist as he took the washcloth he had used to clean the wound on her arm and began gently wiping away at the newly discovered wound on her back before he applied the unscented ointment Wendy had given both him and the other two dragon slayers to carry in their bags, knowing that the smell of anything else would bother their sensitive noses. She let out a contented sigh against his chest as his hand moved softly up and down her spine after tending to her wound. "Any other wounds Bunny?"

"No." Her voice was mumbled against him before she leaned back with a smile on her face. "What about you?"

"I didn't get hurt."

She just grinned at the man as she grabbed the waist band of his pants and pulled him flush against the counter, deftly maneuvering the buttons of his pants through the hole. "No. Bunny you're hurt. You need rest."

Lucy frowned as she looked up at him again with a pout. "I'm fine. What I need is my dragon." She leaned in closer to him as he held her hands out at her sides and away from his pants, watching her as she whispered as closely to his face as she could reach. "I need him showing me just how much he needs me, how grateful that I'm here with him…I need him inside of me, filling me with the unimaginable pleasure that only he can bring me."

Gajeel growled low in his chest as Lucy's breath ghosted across his own lips before he leaned down to capture hers, releasing her hands as he moved them to thread his fingers through her hair. Pulling her head back enough to where she was looking up, her neck exposed to him, he ran his tongue from her collarbone to her jaw before he took the lobe lightly between his teeth. "You don't play fair, Bunny Girl," he whispered.

Her breath came out in short pants as she fought to voice the words that had been lodged in her throat. The man seriously did a number on her mental capacity, despite being one of the smartest people in the guild, she had a damn hard time keeping any part of her brain when this man seemed to be anywhere near her. "No, what's not fair is you trying to hold out on me." He moved back down her throat and to the iron studs running along her shoulders, his tongue circling each one as he sucked on them. The effect was instantaneous as she arched her back and pressed her bare chest against him . "Gajeel, I need you."

"Do you?"

"Don't fucking play with me Gajeel."

The man growled against her neck as she swore at him, turning him on even more. "But I was promised to receive any desire I wanted, are you going to take that away from me Bunny?" He grinned as she gasped when he moved his hands to the front of her and pulled on her already hardened nipples. "Besides, I believe it is custom for dragons to play with their food; and bunnies are this dragon's favorite meal." Unable to handle any more of his teasing, Lucy grabbed the man's hair and pulled him to her mouth as she wrapped her legs around his waist, pulling him against her as she tried to grind herself on him from her position. He pulled away from her with a smirk as she whimpered from the lack of contact before he quickly grabbed her hips and pulled her off of the counter, turning her so she was facing the mirror and pushed her down against the counter top as he expertly yanked her shorts, stockings, and her tiny lace thong to her ankles in one swift motion, leaving her completely bare for him except for the bunny ears still attached to her head.

Kneeling down behind her, he gently helped her step out of her clothing before he ran his calloused hands up the backs of her thighs and up to her ass, squeezing each of her perfectly rounded globes gently before he moved his fingers back to the apex of her thighs. He heard her whimper as she leaned against the counter with her ass stuck out at him, getting impatient in her waiting. But he knew just how long she would wait until she would move. Slowly he slid a single finger between the folds that were already wet and ready for him, but he wanted more than to just slide into her and fuck her. He wanted to savor her. Nudging her thighs further apart, he slid two of his fingers into her, relishing her cry of relief at having some part of him in her.

He brought his face to her upper thigh, nuzzling her before he turned his back to the cabinet she was leaned on and placed his head between her legs, taking the little pearl into his mouth, his tongue flicking against it as he continued to move his two fingers in and out of her at a relentless pace. And damn were her cries of pleasure making him harder than he'd ever been. Just as he felt her walls fluttering around his fingers, he wrapped his teeth around the swollen nub and sucked on it while continuing to flick his tongue against it. Her response was immediate. Clamping down on his fingers, Lucy cried out as her release hit her hard, she could feel her own fluids running down her thighs as she began to come down from her orgasmic high, only to moan when she felt the man's gentle tongue glide softly against her inner thighs, making sure he caught any of her delicious nectar he thought was going to be wasted.

Removing his shirt, Gajeel stood behind his Bunny, smirking at her reflection in the mirror before he began to remove his pants and boxers. As Lucy moved to stand, he quickly shoved her back down, careful not to touch or injure the wound on her back. He leaned against her back as his cock rubbed against her ass, showing her how incredibly hard he was for her, his lips lightly grazing over her ear. "Is this what my Bunny wants?"

Her only response was a moan as she pushed her ass out further against him, earning a satisfied grin from the man. Pulling back, he lined himself up before he pushed into her, slowly entering the head of his shaft into her warm and wet cavern before pulling out again…much to her displeasure. She had almost had enough when he forcefully slammed into her, causing the front of her thighs to hit against the counter and pulling a cry of both pleasure and satisfaction from her.

Gajeel waited for her inner walls to stop their quivering around him as she got used to his girth. When the blonde nodded that she as ready, he slowly pulled out, each of his nine piercings puling against her as they moved from her body before he quickly pushed them all back in. Her cry was all he needed to hear before he began moving rhythmically as her hips pushed back against him, begging him for more.

Biting down on his jaw, he pushed back the release that he was already feeling as he gripped her hips tightly as began pulling her back forcefully to meet him. Lucy fought to find something to grab ahold of as she felt the urge to fall into nothing more than a helpless puddle on the floor. She needed something to help her stay up right as she fought the quivering in her lower abdomen as it slowly worked its way out. As if sensing her dilemma, Gajeel pulled out of her and quickly turned her around before he moved her back onto the counter and quickly entered her again, causing her to throw her head back with a loud cry of pleasure.

He preferred her this way any anyhow. He liked to see her face as she fell apart around him, he liked to feel her heels digging into his ass as she fought to keep him inside of her, and he loved the feeling of her nails raking against his back and shoulders. With another loud cry, Lucy's vaginal walls tightened against him, pulling a deep groan from his throat as he felt his release coming. With what he had left, he gripped her hips tightly and pulled her to the edge of the bathroom counter, relishing how she pulled him back to her as he pulled away. It was like the two of them moved together as one, anytime one would pull away, the other would do their best to pull them back in.

The blonde threw her head back in preparation for what she knew was going to be an earth-shattering orgasm. No longer able to match Gajeel's thrusts, all she could do was wrap her legs tightly around his waist and wait for was she knew was coming. She looked at the man as he growled something unintelligible at her before he leaned in and claimed her lips, sliding his pierced tongue into her mouth for a gentle caress. Pulling back from her, he mumbled against her mouth in a demand that she cum with him. He pulled her lower lip back into his mouth, scrapping his teeth lightly against it before the bunny threw her head back with a primal call of pleasure as her impending orgasm finally hit her. At the same time, she felt the man stiffen within her as his release shot against her womb.

Both panted against each other as Lucy laid her head against his chest, doing everything she could to catch her breath. Looking over at her bandaged arms she couldn't help but laugh at the pitiful state it was in. From all of their moving and sweating, the wrapping had come loose and began to fall off of her. She was sure that the ointment on her back was washed away from sweat as well. "I think I need a shower." The man just grunted against her, refusing to remove himself from her. To her surprise, he just lifted her off of the counter and turn to the shower, palming it with one hand before he carefully set her down and made sure she could stand on her own before he moved to get their toiletries.

* * *

After cleaning up and redressing Lucy's wounds, Gajeel laid in the large king size bed in their hotel room with Lucy. His head was resting on her bare chest while he had his arms wrapped around her waist. Her hand was slowly moving through the thick ebony locks that were still damp from the shower as she drifted to sleep, content to just feel him against her. Taking in a deep breath of her sweet honey and strawberry scent as he moved to change their positions when he felt her breathing even out, he froze as something finally occurred to him. Sitting up, he ignored the mumbled protest from Lucy as he was jerked abruptly from her hands, he leaned in closer to her and took in another deep breath before his eyes widened in realization, cursing himself for not realizing sooner.

"Lucy…come one Bunny I need you to get up." He quickly jumped out of bed and threw his normal loose clothing on before he started shoving their belongings into their bags.

"Gajeel…" Lucy looked up to the man rushing around the room with confusion evident on her tired face. "…what's wrong?"

"We need to get back to the guild." Dropping a plain short black skirt and a pink tank on the foot of the bed for her, he stopped as he looked over at her, exhaustion written all over her face. Reaching up to her, he cupped her face in his hands before he kissed her. "You're beautiful. Come on, get dressed."


	6. Chapter 6

**I'm sorry for any grammatical errors, I was in a rush to get this one finished on time. But here it is!**

6\. On the Job

Lucy grimaced as she heard one of her team mates walk up behind her. The last thing she wanted was anyone to see her like this, bent over and puking her guts out…she didn't like it when Gajeel saw her like this. She stood, hoping to play it off as nothing, only to immediately double back over and empty her stomach of the last remains of their dinner the previous evening. Wiping the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand, Lucy grimaced as she saw Erza standing there watching her, a look of pure horror and concern covering the woman's face. "Lucy, are you…"

The blonde doubled over again as the smell of her previous ruminations wafted toward her nose. As much as she loved Virgo's cooking, the smell of it after it had sat in her stomach all night and then regurgitated wasn't exactly her favorite thing. She honestly didn't know if she'd be able to eat the spirit's stew again for a while. The burning pain of bile and stomach acid had her gasping for breath before she quickly turned away from her last meal. Nodding at the red head, Lucy just took a deep breath of fresh air before she walked back to their camp, only to place her hand on her stomach as the smell her team's breakfast lingered in the air and she fought to hold back her nausea.

"Lucy…" Gray nodded at her, a look of concern on his face as he took in his blonde team mate's appearance. "…I made sure Natsu saved you some breakfast."

Moving for a single bottle of water, she shook her head. There was no way she was going to be able to eat at the moment, in a few hours maybe. "No thanks, I'm not hungry. If Natsu still wants it he can have it."

"See…I told you. With all the retching Luce was doing back there I knew she wasn't going to want to eat." The fire dragon slayer grabbed what was left of the food and began shoveling it in his mouth, ignoring the looks of disgust from all of his team.

"Maybe you shouldn't eat so much at night Lushy…that way you wouldn't get sick." The blue cat held his palms up to his mouth, trying to hide his snickering at the blonde's expense.

Crossing her arms in thought, Erza looked between the annoying cat and the blonde as she tried to figure out what had made her younger sister so sick. The food they had all consumed hadn't bothered anyone else and Virgo's cooking had never made the blonde sick before. "You did eat more than usual last night, Lucy."

The celestial mage winced at the honesty of that statement. She had known she was eating a bit more than usual, but after skipping breakfast that morning and only eating a light lunch on their trek through the woods, she had been starving by the time dinner had come around. "You're right, maybe that's just it. Still, the thought of food doesn't even remotely sound appealing at the moment. I'll just eat something small later."

"Lucy, are you sure you're fine?"

She just smiled at the red head with a nod before she pulled out Virgo's key. "Of course. I feel fine now. You guys just enjoy your breakfast, Virgo and I will start tearing down camp."

"Lucy…"

"I insist Erza. This way we can get out of here, hit those wyverns and head back to Magnolia. I really don't want to camp again."

Hearing the chuckling of her favorite pervert, Lucy turned her gaze to him as he finished off the last of his coffee. "You just don't like not being able to wake up next to Gajeel in the mornings and getting laid."

Her cheeks flamed at his words, and while he was partially right, she did miss Gajeel and hate to be away from him; but it was not the entire reason. As much as she loved Erza and loved spending time with her, the woman was a horrible sleeping partner. Whether they were sharing a bed or a tent, the woman was all over the place. She had honestly woken up one morning with the woman's arms wrapped around her waist and her head rested on her breasts; and despite her normal behavior, Lucy was proud of herself for not completely freaking out over the incident. Instead she had slowly and discreetly woken the woman up by moving a little herself, enough to make it believable that she was just waking up as well. That reason along with how completely uncomfortable she was finding it to sleep on the ground recently, to the point that she was losing sleep. "Gray if you're finished with your breakfast you can help me pack up camp." The ice mage lowered his head in a defeated pout before he stood and made his way to his and Natsu's tent to start tearing it down.

Upon nearing the nest the wyverns were said to be, Erza turned to Lucy with a frown. After her little episode that morning, Lucy had been upbeat and full of energy, despite her not having any food, though she had managed to eat an apple shortly after they had left camp. But the knight was not going to take any chances with the blonde's safety. "Lucy, I know you're more than capable of taking care of one of these yourself, after all you are the only other S-Class mage here…"

"Hey no fair! Luce only won because she had Gajeel with her."

The blonde turned an icy glare to her best friend before she kicked her leg up and shoved it in the center of his chest, sending him flying into a nearby tree before stalking over to him as he tried to regain his senses. "You listen here Natsu Dragneel, what Gajeel and I have is a partnership…on and off of the battle field. One of us is not the cause of any single thing, we do things together."

Natsu looked up to Lucy with wide eyes as he listened to her. "But you're my partner Luce…"

The blonde's face softened as she looked down at the simple minded dragon slayer. She absolutely loved her best friend, but sometimes she wondered how in the world he had made it in life this far or if he really was as dense as what he came across as, or was it all just an act? "I am your partner Natsu, but Gajeel is my mate, that is a partnership as well. It's just a different type of partnership." Her face hardened again as she watched his reactions to her and the events of their S-Class trials replayed through her head.

Only having three S-Class wizards test them, due to the Master not wanting to leave the guild alone again, he had requested S-Class wizards from other guilds to help with their testing. So along with Laxus, Erza, and Mira, the group of six teams also had to compete against each other if encountered, Jura, and the twin dragon slayer, Sting and Rogue. "Gajeel may have helped me achieve my S-Class status, but at the same time I helped him. We fought against Cana and Levy and Sting and Rogue, Natsu. We took down Cana and Levy together and I took Sting down alone while Gajeel handled Rogue. I didn't sit back and let him take care of everything."

"Weren't you supposed to be in pain during those fights though?"

Giving the ice mage a small shrug while her face was red in embarrassment, Lucy looked at Natsu before turning back to Gray. "I was a little sore, but it was nothing that I couldn't handle."

"Regardless, Lucy I want you to team up with Gray to take one of the wyverns. I know you say you feel fine, but after this morning I want you to take it easy." She turned her attention to the raven haired man, her eyes hard as she looked at him. "You will team up with Lucy to take out the largest wyvern while Natsu and I will take out the other two."

"But I wanted to team up with Luce."

The blonde just rolled her eyes before she looked pointedly at the pouting man who was just complaining about her being S-Class status before him. "Natsu you get to take down a wyvern all on your own."

"I guess." The fire wizard continued pouting as he turned to follow Erza toward the nest of wyverns that had been harassing the small village to the south. But as soon as the cry of the first beast reached his ears, the man was fired up and ready to go as he rushed ahead to confront the beast.

Pulling two keys out with one and hand grabbing her whip in another, Lucy called out both Taurus and Scorpio as Gray sent several of his ice lances toward the largest beast coming toward them. With a smile, Lucy instructed her two spirits to combine their attacks, allowing Taurus to use the whirlwind of Scorpio's sand as he swung his large axe, sending it barreling toward the dragon-like creature.

The beast faltered in its pursuit toward them as the ice mixed with the swirling sand as sharp as Taurus' axe whipped against it before righting itself and heading straight for Lucy. Quickly dodging out of the way, she activated her celestial whip, extending the watery-like ribbon around the beast's foot. The wyvern drug her a few feet with it before Gray had been able to assist her and together they were able to pull hard enough to bring the beast crashing to the ground.

Stepping away from the blonde, Gray made a cannon from his ice and aimed it at the enraged animal as it turned to face them with a snarl. As the cannon fired, Lucy ordered her spirits to attack again, this time she stood with them, flinging her Fleuve d'etoiles, enhancing their already powerful attack. After defeating the beast, Lucy sat back with Gray, a smile on their face before they both jumped up at the roar of another beast and realized that their team mates were still fighting their own battles with the two remaining wyverns.

Running toward the two, they paused when they heard Natsu's holler of satisfaction as he took down his creature before Erza had finished with hers. Only the smirk on Gray's face as he stood back watching the fire dragon slayer made them all pause. "It took you long enough, Fire Crotch. I thought for sure the way you were whining and complaining earlier you would have been the first one done."

The fire wizard stormed up to Gray with his fist aflame as his forehead collided with the ice wizard, his voice coming out in a low menacing growl. "What was that Icicle Turd? You wanna go at it here?!"

Gray shoved the man away from him as his eyes narrowed. "What the fuck did you call me, you Burning Asshole?"

"You heard me Frosty Balls, I said let's go!" Gray sent his fist flying toward the man's face before an all-out brawl started between the two men. Lucy just rolled her eyes as she looked over to Erza's fight as she made sure she was far enough away from the two most destructive men on her team. She couldn't exactly say they were the most destructive members because Erza had caused her fair share of damage to multiple towns and properties. While the woman never liked to admit I was her fault, and would often pin the blame on either Natsu or Gray, most of the time both. Claiming the two of them had distracted her or had gotten in her way.

She watched Erza's fight as she ignored the two idiots fighting behind her, making sure that the woman didn't need any help with her own fight. Though it wasn't like Erza would ever need any help from her. If the red head couldn't take down the beast on her own, then Lucy knew there wasn't much of a chance that Lucy would be able to either. As the beast fell, she watched as Erza nodded her head in approval before changing back into her normal chest plate and blue skirt. The look on her face as she realized that Gray and Natsu had started in their fighting again sent shivers down the blonde's spine.

Storming towards the two, Erza commanded their attention. "Natsu! Gray! Are you two fighting again?"

Both men paused as they looked at her, both with bloody noses and busted lips as they threw their arms around one another and shook their heads in denial, only to glare at one another as she turned away with an approving nod. All eyes turned to look behind them as another large winged creature flew straight for the group, all staring wide eyed as it made its way toward the one person who was singled out and alone from all the others. "LUCY!"

* * *

Lucy fought the scream of pain as the small village's healer placed pressure on her angry red and seeping wound before the young celestial wizard lost consciousness. The young wyvern had managed to surprise the four of them and grab Lucy at as it was flying overhead before any of them had a chance to react. Erza watched the old medicine woman work as she did her best to dig out most of the green pussy fluid from the large deep gash running from the blonde's chest to her shoulder where the beast's claws had pierced her shoulders. "The poison needs to be treated, there is nothing I can do about it here nor can I do anything about the wounds around her piercings. I suggest removing them and getting her to either Clover Memorial or Magnolia Regional Hospital for care and I suggest you make hast, otherwise she will not make it.

"That is not possible." Tears fell down Erza's face as she looked down at the peaceful looking blonde. "Those aren't piercings, she's mated to a dragon slayer. They are to signify who she belongs to if she ever came into contact with another slayer or a dragon. They can only be removed if her mate removes them and he isn't here." Erza looked up from her unconscious blonde friend lying on the bed as the old woman spoke with her. She was speechless, feeling guilty, and angry. Nodding to the woman, the knight called for Natsu and Gray, informing them of the plan to get Lucy back to Magnolia for care. "What about her wound?"

The small woman turned to look back at Natsu with a frown before glancing back down at Lucy. She believed it was sad that a woman such as the unconscious woman before her would have her unmistakable beauty marred for the rest of her life. "You must be careful in transporting her, the wound will still bleed and she will be at risk of bleeding out. Other than that, she will scar."

"Scar?!" Erza's eyes widened as she turned to look back at Lucy, knowing how much her best friend valued her looks and appearance. "But…"

"Wait, what about Wendy?"

At the dragon slayer's words, Erza's head shot up and looked to the healer hopefully. "We have a wizard at our guild who specialized in healing magic. Will that prevent any major scarring?"

Tilting her head to the side, the old woman thought before nodded at the group. "Could. If she was gotten to your healer promptly before the poison starts eating away at her tissue."

"I can handle that." Stepping forward, Gray iced his hands before he took a breath and laid them over his blonde sister's chest and shoulder." If he could freeze the majority of the wound and slower the woman's heart rate, he was hoping he could preventing the poison from spreading and the wound from being jostled too much during her transportation. He hoped that it would not only save the celestial wizard's life, but prevent her from carrying any scarring from the event for the rest of her life. He didn't believe that it would take from her beauty, and he knew that Gajeel wouldn't think so either, but Lucy wouldn't see things so clearly. She had yet to learn how to move past the strict and superficial upbringing she'd had. "Come on, we need to move. My ice isn't going to keep the poison from spreading, only slowing it."

Nodding in approval, Erza instructed Gray to carry Lucy to the small town's train station, ensuring that they make it to Magnolia within a reasonable time frame. The woman paced back and forth as she waited impatiently for the train to arrive, as much she hated to waiting without doing anything, she knew that they would be saving several hours by taking the train instead of walking like they had to arrive. As it was, they wouldn't be arriving into town until almost midnight and she knew that she'd have to send Happy and possibly Natsu to the girl's dorm to retrieve the young dragon slayer. But she was also concerned about Gajeel. Would he be at his and Lucy's home, or would he be at the guild? Would he want them to take her to the hospital first or straight to the guild? She knew that the man wasn't very trusting when it came to the blonde's safety and she was pretty sure that he trusted the little bluenette more than he did any of the doctors at the hospital. But if Wendy was on a job with Carla or Team Shadowgear then they wouldn't have much of a choice.

Looking up, the red head let out a relieved sigh as the train slowly came to a stop and she quickly grabbed their four tickets before following the boys and the cat onto the train, glaring at the train's attendant, daring him to question the partially frozen woman's unconsciousness. In the end, showing the guild mark of each of them along with Lucy's was enough for the attendant to accept them and give them a private car.

Laid out on the bench, Gray placed Lucy's head in his lap, constantly checking on the woman he considered his sister's condition. Much to the fire slayer's frustration, the ice mage had insisted that the man, along with his warm cat, stay as far away from them as they were able, preventing the ice coating Lucy's wound from melting as quickly. She was much too pale as it was and his ice wasn't doing her any favors as it chilled her skin and slowed her heartbeat, he was unsure how long this would work on her and without the means to check her vitals or the progression of the poison he wouldn't know until they managed to make their way back to the guild.

Natsu sat in the far corner of their car, curled up in a ball as he groaned in his misery and he wondered if this was how Lucy had felt that morning when she was busy throwing her guts up. All he could think about was how Gajeel was going to react to the news that his mate had been hurt while out on a job without him. Honestly, he was curious as to why the man had allowed Lucy to accompany them in the first place; and as horrible as it sounded, he could only hope that the man was not at the guild and would not find out about the situation until after Lucy had woken up and was able to calm the man down. Otherwise, Erza, Mira, and scary Lucy were the least of his concerns.

Dropping the dragon slayer on the ground outside of the train station, Erza spoke to Happy and Natsu as Gray had already began to head to the guild. Once he got her to the guild, he'd have to get the ice melted before the youngest dragon slayer arrived so she could immediately begin her treatment. "Happy, take Natsu and go get Wendy from the girl's dormitory. If anyone stops you, tell them you have my permission and that Lucy's life is on the line."

The blue cat nodded seriously as he grabbed the back of Natsu's shirt and took off toward Fairy Hills as quickly as he could. "Aye." He may tease the blonde, but most of it was because the woman had the best reactions to him. He knew that regardless of the threats she would make to him, she would never intentionally harm him and if it were someone the blonde didn't care about she would give them a serious Lucy kick through the wall. He wanted his and Natsu's partner to be okay…besides, no one made fish cakes as good as Lucy, something he would never admit to Mira.

At high speed, the dormitory came into view just as Natsu began to regain his senses. The dragon slayer's face set in a hard and determined expression as Happy dropped him to the ground and the two of them burst through the door. Without missing a beat he sniffed the air and adjusted his course to find the little dragon slayer, ignoring the cries of anger and surprise that were being shouted at him and the blue tomcat.

"Natsu!" Levy stood behind the man, her small fists planted firmly on her hips as she stared hard at him, several woman standing behind the small female. "What do you think you are doing here?"

Ignoring the girl, Natsu began banging on the door in front of him, yelling out for Wendy while Happy stood on the floor with wide eyes, tears forming as he looked up at the girl. "It's Lucy. Erza told us to come get Wendy."

The script mage's eyes widened as she looked at Natsu's serious expression, knowing something was wrong. "Natsu, don't you dare break down her door. Wendy is a dragon slayer, I know she can hear your yelling, most of the dorm can. Give her a minute."

He turned on her, causing her to take a nervous step back as he glared at her. "Lucy may not have a minute."

Just as Natsu turned to kick the door down, Wendy opened the door and rushed past the group of people after hearing Natsu speak about Lucy. Usually the little blue haired dragon slayer would go on jobs alone with just Carla, but there were times when she would tag along with other groups, mainly Team Shadowgear and Team Natsu, but she had also been known to go out on a few jobs with just Lucy and Gajeel, seeing the couple as older siblngs. As much as she loved everyone in the guild, she had bonded with Lucy, just as almost everyone else in the guild. She paused at the end of the hallway and turned to look at the elder dragon slayer. "Where?"

"Gray and Erza took her to the guild." He watched as she gave a single nod and took off again, her stern white cat following close behind with an unusual concerned expression on her face. Turning he looked back at Levy, dreading his next question. "Where is Gajeel?"

"What's happened to Lucy? Is she going to be okay?'

He walked past the girl, a much more reasonable pace as he was leaving. There was something else he needed to make sure of before he headed back to his best friend. "Wendy is on her way to her. Where is Gajeel?"

The girl blinked as Natsu avoided her first question, quickly moving to follow him, regardless of the fact that she was only wearing her loose blue plaid lounge pants and baggy white t-shirt. "He was at the guild when I left an hour ago. Said he had nothing to do at home without Lulu there."

"Good. He's probably still there."

"Natsu…" The small woman pulled the dragon slayer to a stop as he reached the front door. "…what happened?"

He paused before he looked above the girl's head, making eye contact with a couple of the others in the dorm, Laki, Kinana, and Evergreen being the ones who looked more concerned, the ones who'd had the most contact with her. "She was attacked by a poison wyvern. We need Wendy to heal the wound and remove the poison."

"But she's…" The glare Natsu gave her told her that he knew Lucy's secret and that until the blonde or her mate made that secret known that she was to keep her mouth shut about it, despite how much he disagreed with them. She just nodded in understanding before she stormed out of the apartments ahead of him. "…I'm coming with you."

* * *

Gajeel's eyes lifted from his almost empty plate of metal in his darkened corner that he still occupied when Lucy wasn't with him, or when she was having her girl talk with the rest of the girls. But when the foreign scents surrounding her hit his nose, he immediately stood, knocking over his chair and spilling his plate of iron to the floor before he moved his way quickly to the door. He ignored the surprised questions of the people around him and vaguely registered the scent of the lightning slayer on his heels, but before the two of them could make it to the door, it was kicked open by the ice mage with Lucy in his arms. "What the fuck happened?!" The man took his mate from the Gray's arms and glared hard at him before he looked up and stared harshly at Erza. He noticed the ice around the wound was melting as he held her close before he growled and turned toward the back of the guild to take her to the infirmary.

He inhaled her sweet scent that was tainted with the foreign smell closely just as Gray and Erza stepped into the infirmary, the large dragon slayer standing outside the door to keep them from being interrupted. Turning on the couple, the iron slayer's eyes narrowed as he tightened his fists, trying to prevent himself from beating the shit out of the man. "What the fuck happened?! She shouldn't have even been doing anything!"

"Lucy!"

Everyone turned to see the little blue haired healer run into the room, panting for breath as she raced to his side. "Gray, I need to know what happened. Can you remove the ice?"

"Why the fuck does she have ice on her anyway?"

Erza let out a sigh, pushing back her question of the man's statement of how Lucy shouldn't have been doing anything on their job. "Our job was fairly simple. We were tasked at taking out a nest of three wyverns, Lucy and Gray took one while Natsu and I each took one. Lucy had been sick that morning so I instructed her to work with Gray, despite her saying that she was fine."

"What the FUCK happened to Bunny?! I don't give two shits about your job right now!"

"We were distracted and a fourth wyvern came out of nowhere. Lucy was alone and it singled her out. She has deep lacerations and was poisoned."

Nodding in understanding, Wendy looked up at Gajeel as Gray finished melting the ice encasing Lucy's chest and noticed the barely controlled rage in his deep red eyes. She knew that if the man did something now, out of his anger at his mate being injured, he would hate himself for it later and knew that Lucy would be upset when she found out as well. "Gajeel, I need your help. Erza, Gray, please leave us to tend to Lucy."

"But…"

A large hand landed on the woman's shoulder as she moved to protest. Looking up, Erza saw the bright orange eyes of the largest dragon slayer. "Don't push it Titania, leave him for the time being. He'll calm down some when Lucy regains consciousness."

With a sigh of defeat, the woman nodded her head before she grabbed Gray by the elbow and led him out of the room. She could understand the man's anger, she herself was angry at herself for allowing something like this to happen. But what surprised her was Natsu coming through the guild doors with the young script mage riding on his back. As her bare feet hit the wooden guild floors, she took off toward the infirmary door, disappearing behind it before Erza had a chance to warn the girl. Though it seemed that the only ones the anger was directed to was the rest of Lucy's team. But Natsu just sat at the bar and waited for the group to finish in the infirmary, understanding written on his face.

* * *

Two hours after Wendy finished her healing, Gajeel sat in the chair next to Lucy's bed, his head lying next to her face as he ran his hand up and down her arm. The light moan he heard from her had him sitting up straight and moving to sit on the edge of her bed to brush the hair out of her face. The feeling of heavy anxiety lifted as the beautiful honey brown eyes opened and met his red ones, a sweet smile spreading across her face as she tried to roll over toward him, only she winced in pain and her eyes widened when she remembered what had happened.

"Yeah, you have every reason to be scared Bunny. What the fuck were you thinking?! Fighting? You said that this was going to be an easy job and that you wouldn't be in any danger!"

The blonde winced at the man's anger, tears pooling in the corners of her eyes as she looked away from him. "It was just supposed to be a few wyverns, no big deal. We've taken plenty of the down before easily enough and without incident. It was just a freak accident that there was an unexpected one."

"No big deal?! Bunny you almost died! How is that no big deal? Do you know what that would mean for me?"

A sob broke from the girl's throat as she thought of the implications he had painted for her. She had known when she left that she shouldn't really be there, but she knew that it would be a while before she was allowed to go on a job again. She had just wanted one last one until she was put on temporary leave. "Gajeel I'm sorry. I-I didn't…"

Exhaling, he moved down to grab her and pulled her close. He kissed the top of her head as she leaned it on his chest and broke down in sobs. "You're fine Bunny. Everything is going to be fine."

"E-Everything?" The blonde looked up with hopeful red rimmed eyes, smiling at the implication that was made.

"Yeah Bunny, everything. But you aren't going on a job again. Not without me, you hear?" His gaze was hard as he tightened his arms around her.

After calming the blonde down, promising her that everything was going to be fine, and he wasn't letting her out of his sight ever again, Gajeel laid down on the bed next to his blonde Bunny Girl with his head resting against her stomach. She was exhausted and had just fought death. Despite Gray's ice encasing Lucy's heart and slowing the venom in her system, it had still taken Wendy a solid forty-five minutes before she had been able to completely heal the blonde. Yet she was still stuck with a very fine scar that she was assured would eventually fade with some time.

He looked up as the door slowly opened and Erza stuck her head in, a frown showing as she lowered her gaze. The position the two were in was much more intimate than she had been expecting, yet it wasn't really provocative. "Gajeel…"

"Bunny didn't tell you, did she?"

"What?" Erza just stared at the woman before he nodded his head toward the door. "Go get the Stripper and the Salamander if they're still here. I'm sure Natsu knows, but you all need to hear this anyway. Damn it Titania, just go get them." He snorted at the disgruntled look of annoyance on the woman, not used to being ordered around. But he'd be damned, when it came to the safety of those he loved he'd boss and order anyone around if it meant their safety.

Waiting fifteen minutes before the woman returned with the rest of her team, Gajeel finally removed himself from against the sleeping woman and looked at each of them. "I'm pretty sure that if Bunny had told you all this then you wouldn't have allowed her to go on that job."

"Yes, I am curious as to why you believe that Lucy shouldn't have been doing anything." Erza crossed her arms over her chest and glared at the dragon slayer, who in turn just ignored her famous icy glare. "She is more than capable of protecting herself and taking care of any wyvern."

"You don't think I know that? I've fought beside Lucy, I've trained with her as well. I know exactly what she is capable of. It's not that she can't handle herself or that she is unable to take out a beast. It's just too dangerous right now!" He watched as Natsu moved to the corner of the room, and took a seat in the far chair, waiting for the explosion to happen; because without Lucy being awake, it most definitely would.

Erza took a step forward, her hands clenched in fists. "That's the same thing!"

"Erza…"

All eyes moved to the blonde, taking in her remorseful honey brown eyes. "Gajeel is right. I shouldn't have been out there right now and I'm sorry I was in the way."

Shaking her head, Erza's eyes softened as she met the blonde's. "Lucy, you weren't in the way. It was just an accident. It could have happened to any of us."

"Yes. It could have, but in my condition I am a liability."

Gray's eyes widened as everything clicked with him before he turned his eyes to the salmon haired man in the corner of the room. "You knew about his and you allowed it to happen!"

The man just crossed his arms over his chest before rolling his eyes. "It's not my place. He's Luce's mate, not me. How was I supposed to know that he wasn't completely clear on the job details?"

"Will someone please explain what is going on? What condition Lucy?" Her eyes moved between Natsu and Gray as she narrowed her eyes at the two of them. "…and what did you know about beforehand?"

"Bunny's pregnant."

"WHAT?!" Erza just stared at the two of them, watching as Lucy slowly moved to sit in Gajeel's lap. Casually blocking her from being able to strike him without going through her. The man just chuckled at her actions before he kissed the back of her neck and wrapped his arms around her, his large hands splayed across her still flat stomach. "How did this happen?"

Lucy raised her brow as a lopsided smile lifted the corner of her mouth. "Erza, do you really need details? To the best of my knowledge, it happened…"

"Stop!" Both women blushed at the thought of Lucy continuing.

The iron dragon slayer rolled his eyes as he pulled Lucy's back flush against his. "It happened on the night of the S-Class trials, when I marked her. It's apparently why I marked her twice and why she wasn't in extreme pain."

"B-But you aren't married?"

Natsu stood and moved to the door of the infirmary, bored with the conversation. Yeah, he knew what the mating and marking was, but he really didn't want to hear about his best friend and the iron dragon slayer that was holding her doing either. The thought made him a little nauseous. "Actually they are Erza. They're a fully mated pair, which is the same for dragons."

"But…"

A weak smile spread across Lucy's face as she placed her hands on Gajeel's covering her stomach. "Congratulations Erza, you're going to be an aunt."

All four wizards looked toward the door as they heard a loud crash, only to see Mira standing there with a scary smile on her face, the tray holding the food for the couple laying on the floor. "Oh my! Little blonde haired red eyed babies!" Throwing her hands in the air, the demon rand back down to the main hall, screaming about t the possible appearance of Lucy and Gajeel's children.

With sigh, Lucy looked at the man behind her with a frown. "Well, so much for telling the guild on our own."


	7. Chapter 7

Haunted

"No."

"But Gajeel…"

The man turned to look at his five month pregnant mate as she begged him to let her take this job. It seemed that small town just north of the Phoenix Mountains were having trouble with a haunting in their woods to the south. They'd had several wizards and teams out to investigate and none of them had been able to do anything, Fairy Tail's own Thunder God Tribe had gone, hoping that Bicklsow's rare seith magic would be able to put whatever soul it was to rest. Which is how the job request was now in Lucy's possession.

Bicklsow had told them that whatever was haunting the woods in that area was not remnants of a human and there was no human soul, lost or otherwise, that he could deal with. He had openly admitted that the job was beyond his control and specialty. Regardless, the group had not been hindered and had taken it upon themselves to destroy the creature that had been terrorizing the town for what had felt like months. To that point, they had been the first group to actually see the beast and it was like no ghost they had ever seen. Easily twice the size of an adult wyvern with bright eyes shining as if they were glowing yellow in the pitch black forest. Its scales were as black as the night and its wings would knock the trees down around it when they would spread out wide. But the group had been able to defeat it, heading back to the town where they were told to wait a day to make sure of its assured death. True to the town's words, the beast was back the next night and angrier than it had been before. But something about it had struck the lightning slayer as odd with the way it would manifest and disappear at random, leaving the town to believe it was a haunting.

"Bunny you're pregnant. What the hell do think you can do that Sparky and his team can't?" The anger that shinned in her eyes made the dragon slayer swallow his words before he stepped up to her and turned off the stove where she had been cooking breakfast and cup his hands around her face before moving them down to the back of her neck and into her hairline and pressing his head to hers. "I promise, as soon as the brat is born and you are cleared by both Wendy and the old hag, we will go on a job if you still want to."

His hand moved to the very obvious swell in her stomach as he smiled, marveling at how a new life was growing inside the woman he loved, a life that he had helped to create with her. He didn't even have his child here with him in his hands and he could not understand why parents would abandon their children like his birth parents had done to him, or how Lucy's father had been willing to sell her into marriage. This was his, this woman, this child, and this life, he wasn't giving any of it up for any reason and if he had to he would tie the woman to the bed for the rest of her pregnancy just to keep the two of them safe.

Angered, Lucy pushed his hand away from her and moved out of his grasp. "You don't think I know I'm pregnant? Look at me! I can't fit into any of my clothes, I feel like I eat like a fucking pig, and then I'm forced to sit around either here or the guild on my ass all day and do nothing but possibly help Mira while you, Lily, my team, and everyone else are allowed to go out on jobs whenever you want!"

With a sigh Gajeel lowered his head, unsure what to do when Lucy got like this. He couldn't be harsh with her or she would either snap and do something drastic, like take off on the job alone, or she'd burst out in tears, which he'd learned quickly that he couldn't handle very well. Lifting his head with a frustrated sigh, he brought his hand to his brow, hoping to relieve some of the tension that was beginning to build there. "Okay, what can you do about this job Lucy?"

The woman blinked in surprise, both in the fact that he was talking this through with her instead of cuffing her to the bed and leaving her there for the remaining four months of her pregnancy and that had used her name, which meant that he was getting pretty damn frustrated with her. She smiled as she walked toward him and wrapped her arms around his waist as she laid her head on his chest, smiling as his arms hesitantly wrapped around her. "Laxus and I think this is a spirit."

"Well obviously, the place is haunted."

Pulling back, the blonde just rolled her eyes as she lightly smacked the man's chest. "No…a celestial spirit. He said the fading out it did reminded him of when I call out Plue." The blonde pulled out her keys and summoned the little shivering snowman, a puff of white with what looked like tiny stars appeared on the counter where they little spirit was now standing. The little dog reached out and hugged Lucy's waist as if it were trying to hug the child as well. "See, it's a very distinctive sight and limited to celestial spirits alone."

The gruff dragon slayer chuckled as he crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the counter next to the little shaking spirit. "Then send it to Yukino."

Shrugging, the blonde grabbed the dog before she moved to sit in the chair at the table. She was thrilled about the opportunity to get out of the house and town. Since the fiasco with the wyvern, Gajeel hadn't let her out of his sight unless it was to complete a job with Lily and sometimes Wendy, in which case he left strict orders with Mira and Laxus to make sure she didn't run off on anymore adventures without him. And to her great disappointment, Erza had agreed as well, putting all of their girl's weekends on hold until after the baby was born. But at the same time she knew that she didn't need to be going on any job that was even remotely dangerous. Not only could she not move as quickly as she used to, but any injury she took there was also a chance that the child would get her too, she had been lucky that first time. "They tried sending it to her first, but Yukino is out of the country on a job for Sabertooth. It's just me right now and you can't expect those people to deal with that until she gets back."

Pulling a spoon out of the drawer, Gajeel stuck it in his mouth and took a bite of it. Something that Lucy would definitely yell at him for on most days, but he was stressed and they both knew it. So she watched him, waiting for him to make a decision as she could see the gears in his head turning. "I can expect them to wait until Tiger Girl gets back. They aren't my concern Bunny, you are."

She stood with a creased brow, unable to figure out how he could be leaving these people to such a fate. "Gajeel, you've seen how destructive my spirits can be if not managed properly. Imagine if it were our town and we had no way of fighting it and the one person who could wouldn't come."

Turning around to face the sink, Gajeel braced his hands on the edge and let out disgruntled groan. "Damn it Bunny!" The man let out a huff of breath before he looked at her over his shoulder. "Fine. We're taking Lily with us."

Giving him an excited squeal of delight, the woman hopped up and down in place – looking very much like a bunny – before she threw her arms around him. "Thank you." Growling as he felt her chest press against his back, the turned to look at her hungrily before his lips met hers and he picked her up and carried her up the stairs as his hands slid under her bare thighs and moved to cup her ass under his large t-shirt. "But Gajeel, breakfast…"

"Mmm…I've got my breakfast right here, Bunny."

Lucy smiled as she sat down in her usual seat at the bar, watching the barmaid as she smiled as filled the breakfast orders for her fellow guild members. If this were any other day, Lucy would slip back into the kitchen and start helping the barmaid before she realized it and scolded her for doing too much. Sometimes she swore that Mira was worse than Gajeel when it came to what all she could do, telling her that if she pushed herself too hard that her little god babies could suffer for it, regardless of how many times Lucy had told her that she wasn't carrying twins. But this wasn't just any other day, Gajeel had gone up to the master's office to speak with him about this job, telling him where they were going and what Laxus had told her the night before. Then the plan was to leave on the first train out of Magnolia, before everyone could scream and yell at them for taking a job so far along in her pregnancy. "Mira, can I have a smoothie?"

"Of course Lucy, strawberry?" The woman turned to look at her favorite female blonde guild mate with a smile, assuming she wanted her regular, with extra strawberries.

Pursing her lips, Lucy shook her head as she thought for a moment, trying to decide what sounded good to her. Her eyes widening she looked at Mira, "No, peach…with blueberries."

The demon looked at her with a raised brow, curious of the blonde's sudden change. The celestial wizard had been getting the same smoothie every morning since she joined Fairy Tail. "Are you sure?"

She gave a timid nod, realizing that her request was a bit odd for her, but at the moment, that was what she was wanting. She watched as the older woman smiled at her before she started bringing out ingredients. "So is Gajeel going out on a job today? That's the only time you're here this early."

Nodding the blonde smiled brightly, excited to actually get to go with him this time. She may not show it to everyone, but when the iron dragon slayer left without her, she did nothing but constantly worry about him. "Yeah, he's up talking to the master about it now."

Mira creased her brow with a frown as she sat the blender to go before she turned back to Lucy. "But he could have just come to me like always and I could have logged it out for him." Smiling at the white haired take over wizard, Lucy just shrugged casually, she wasn't so stupid to tell the woman that yes Gajeel was going on a potentially dangerous job and he was taking her with him.

"Better get it to go, we need to get moving."

The sound of his voice caused her to squeak in surprise as he snuck up behind her, laughing as she turned and swatted at him before calling out. "Mira, can I get that to go please?"

The blonde smiled as Gajeel laid the jewels needed for the smoothie on the bar as Mira sat the plastic cup loaded with whipped topping before the blonde. "So what are you two doing this early to need a smoothie to go?"

With a shrug Lucy hopped up and started to the door, allowing Gajeel to be the one to break the news to the demon that her favorite pregnant woman was leaving on a job that could very well be dangerous. Yet instead the slayer lifted her up bridal style and took off toward the train station, only to hear Mira yelling at them in the distance as she realized what was going on. That was not a demon either of them wanted to face at the moment. They'd deal with her when they returned safely, to assure her that her little god baby was going to be okay.

But Lucy did feel a little bad, her team had left on a job with Wendy about a month prior and was due back within the next week and she wouldn't be there to welcome them home like she usually was. She was also due for a check-up when the group returned that she would have to miss, sure Porlyusica could take care of it for her, but in all honesty, the old pink haired lady scared the shit out of Lucy. "Hey Gajeel, where's Lily? I thought he was coming with us?"

The man stopped as the station came into sight and set the woman on her feet casually as she sipped at her smoothie. She couldn't tell you how glad she was that she no longer got sick in the mornings and was able to actually eat breakfast. Her eyes looked up to Gajeel as he smiled down at her. "Pantherlily is already in the station waiting for us."

"Oh…" She paused momentarily as she looked at the man of her dreams. Dressed in his long trench coat and a pair of khaki pants with his iron rimmed boots and green bandana, she found him just about irresistible. "So you're saying that we didn't need to go by the guild? You could have just called the master on the lacrima."

"Geehee…you wanted a smoothie, I definitely can't make you one of those." Gajeel just smiled as his blonde bunny bounced up to him and threw her arms around his neck before she kissed him. "Come on Bunny, we're going to miss our train; and I'm not staying in town any longer and taking the chance of the demon catching up to us."

Lucy spent two miserable weeks on the train with Gajeel and Lily, all the while thinking that their roles should be reversed. She should be the one taking care of him while he fought to keep his food down, he should be the one who had his head resting in her lap while she ran her fingers through his hair. Though he wasn't humming like she did with him. But the motion sickness pills that Wendy had given each of the dragon slayers wouldn't work on her and she had no idea why she would be the one feeling ill, that was until Lily had made a very astute observation. "It seems as if your child has taken after Gajeel's dislike of transportation."

Eyes widening in shock, Lucy looked down at her stomach bulge with a frown before whispering words to her little adorable parasite. Right now, that's what she felt like he or she was, sucking the life out of her while she struggled to keep any food down, yet making her hungry at the same time. Her large honey brown eyes looked up to Gajeel as she groaned again. "Are we almost there?"

Gajeel felt sorry for her, he knew the feeling and he couldn't imagine being pregnant was helping her feel any better. Running his fingers through her loose hair while trying to get her to relax some, Gajeel looked out the window. "Yeah. We should be there within the hour Bunny."

"Ugh…so long?"

* * *

"You're the mages Fairy Tail sent? But…" The round man stared at Lucy long enough that she visibly shifted in place from her nervousness. The man was staring at her like she was just a common whore, a girl who had just gone out and gotten herself knocked up by some random man on the street. Then his eyes racked over her body, settling on her voluptuous chest. The growl from Gajeel brought all eyes to him as he stood in front of his mate, protecting her from the lustful gaze of the man before them. He found that he was rather offended by the man's actions, so obviously stripping her with his eyes while he stood next to her and while she was carrying his child no less.

The man's eyes widened as he noticed the hostility directed toward him from the angry dragon slayer. His eyes briefly flicked over to the blonde who was now being hidden behind him before returning his gaze to those eerie crimson eyes. "…But she'd pregnant."

"Yeah, and it's mine. We're here to accept your job, take it or leave it. But she's the only one in the country at the moment that can handle it. So it's your choice, keep your eyes and comments to yourself and we take care of your angry spirit or we leave and you can wait another six months until the girl from Sabertooth can make her way down here."

The man nodded his head in agreement before he looked at the beautiful blonde in concern before he put on his business mask and began to address them as he would and had any other mages that had shown up to take care of their problem that was now being deemed a celestial spirit. It seemed that every time a wizard from one specialty would come out, they would claim that it was something else and there was nothing they could do about it, suggesting that he try and call a wizard with the next rare magic out. "Very well, but I must warn you, this beast is very dangerous. We will not take responsibility of any injury that may occur."

"She don't need your protection or responsibility. She's a Fairy Tail wizard, pregnant or not, she can take care of herself." Snatching the details from the butler that had arrived, Gajeel grabbed Lucy's wrist and began pulling her out of the manor.

Lucy smiled at Gajeel's behavior as she walked behind him, carrying Lily in her arms as they walked through the hotel lobby and to their pre-arranged room. Inside was a large queen size bed and a sofa off to the side of the room, the bathroom was large and held a large tub off to the side along with a full size shower next to it. "Get some sleep Bunny, after that train ride you look like you need it. We'll go over the information when you get up and we'll start our search tonight."

Gajeel watched Lucy as she slept before he picked up the file of information that all the wizards before them had collected. Surprisingly there wasn't that much, Laxus and his team collecting more than any of the others. But going through it he had to agree with what Lucy had been saying. Whichever spirit this was it was causing too much damage to allow it to keep going until Yukino got back. Now they just needed to figure out which it was, why it was creating chaos, and how to stop it.

He couldn't help but worry about the sleeping blonde and smiled as he noticed Pantherlily curled up against her swollen abdomen dozing with her. He knew that she would do whatever needed to be done in order to protect their child, including leaving him alone in the middle of a fight, they had already discussed that possibility. As much as he hated the thought of it, he needed her safe and if it weren't for his weakness toward her and her damn bleeding heart then he would have her safe at home in Magnolia. With a sigh he dropped the files that weren't really giving him any information and moved to take a shower before he woke Lucy up. Regardless of the lack of information, she'd want to read over everything at least two or three times before she called out her cross spirit and asked it questions about who this rogue spirit would be, though that really wasn't a bad idea. Who would know the signature of a spirit better than another spirit? He'd definitely mention that to her.

"Bunny…come on Lucy, wake up. We need to go eat dinner and discuss this job before we head out to the woods to find his out of control spirit of yours." Getting the blonde up when she wasn't ready was becoming a harder challenge the further she got along in her pregnancy, another reason he liked to stay home so he could just let her sleep.

Sitting at the table in the hotel's restaurant, Lucy looked through the files the Gajeel had already gone through with her brow creased. She saw nothing in there that could even remotely help them with who it was and there was nothing in there for Crux to be able to figure it out either. Lifting her spoon out of her soup bowl, Lucy stuck it in her mouth before she realized there was nothing on it. A smile pulled at his mouth as he watched her put the empty spoon back in her mouth after looking at it curiously. "Bunny…what're you doing?"

"Hmm?" The blonde pulled the spoon out of her mouth as she looked up to the dragon slayer watching her and glanced at the three empty plates in front of him. If there was one thing that made her feel better about eating so much during her pregnancy was that the father of her child was a dragon slayer and ate almost as much as Natsu.

"The spoon Bunny, there's nothing on the spoon."

She looked down at the spoon again, debating on setting it down before she just shrugged and put it back in her mouth. There was something about the taste of the metal that she wanted. She knew she couldn't eat it like Gajeel did, but that sharp tangy metallic taste seemed to be settling all of her cravings at the moment and she liked the feeling of not being hungry for once. Ignoring his chuckling, she continued rereading through the files they had gotten, hoping to find something that could help them. "Okay…" Pulling the spoon out of her mouth and looking at it wistfully, Lucy put it down and started gathering the papers as she stood to leave, waiting while Gajeel paid for their meal. "…I still don't know what spirit this is; and there isn't enough information here for me to call out Crux. It looks like we're just going to have to go in blind to find any more information. The only thing in here hinting to it being a celestial spirit is the way it disappears and reappears."

The dragon slayer pulled a small metal rod out of his pocket as they began their trek to the woods to look for this spirit and handed it to Lucy, ignoring the blush that spread across her cheeks as she took it from him. He had noticed the look of satisfaction on her face as she sucked on the spoon in the restaurant and he was determined to see it on her again and he could only surmise that if she was getting motion sick on transportation because of her pregnancy than it was possible that their child was demanding the metal as well, but he knew that Lucy couldn't ingest the metal as he could. He's have to talk with Wendy and Mira when they got back to Magnolia and see what they could do with that information.

Lucy groaned as she sat down on a fallen tree in the forest to rest her swollen feet, they had been out there for more than three hours with no sign of any spirit, ghost, or entity. As best as she or any of the others could tell, they were the only ones out in the woods. "Lucy, perhaps you should…"

The celestial wizard closed her eyes and reached for her keys as the familiar feel of magic washed over, calling for Crux to help her name the spirit. "Gajeel…" Lucy opened her eyes and pulled at her mate's coat sleeve as she whispered, trying not to draw attention to them. "…this is definitely a celestial spirit."

Gajeel nods and asks Lucy to summon Loke, requesting that the lion spirit stay with her while he and Lily investigate the spirit. Agreeing to the dragon slayer's request, Loke sits next to his irritated princess, promising her that Gajeel will be fine. "Loke, can you tell which spirit this is?" Lucy looks out toward the direction Gajeel had left, placing her hand over her stomach as the anxiety washed over her. She needed him to be okay, needed him to come back to her…to them. At this moment, she was almost wishing that she hadn't urged him to take this job with her, leaving the town to their fate.

"Princess, I have determined the name of the spirit." Both Lucy and Loke's eyes move to the cross that had appeared before them before Loke had a chance to even focus on the magical energy. "It seems this spirit is not fond of her key being in the possession of humans and had it hidden at the beginning of its creation. But it also seems as if someone has found her key, yet they do not have the ability or enough magical energy to summon her. She sees humans as unfit to wield her and the fact that this human doesn't have the magic power to summon her only reinforces her claim."

"Draco."

Lucy looked at Loke with wide eyes before she realized that Gajeel's first instinct would be to attack her. Jumping up she took off in the direction her dragon slayer had gone, hoping to find him before he found Draco. "Gajeel!" There in the distance she could hear the dragon speaking to him and could tell that she was not happy at having to address him. Her attitude reminded her a lot of Acnologia and is belief that humans were inferior, nothing more than bugs and dirt. But she knew that wouldn't deter Gajeel and Lily. "Gajeel, stop! Don't attack her!"

Running between the two of them, Lucy stood with her arms out to either side. She turned to the dragon spirit with pleading eyes, knowing the man behind her wouldn't do anything with her in front of him. "Please stop. We just want to help."

"Why?" Snorting, the dragon looked past the two humans to see a familiar face. She snorted as she watched the lion spirit walk toward them. "Leo. So this is your master?"

Lucy smiled as she shrugged, knowing her spirit friend was walking up behind her. "I have a soft spot for dragons." She turned and smiled at her own dragon in a human's body before Loke stepped up beside her. He shrugged as he placed his hands into the pockets of his suit before he looked at Lucy. Despite her being pregnant with another's child, she was still beautiful. Dressed in black jeans and a tight black t-shirt with a bright yellow star in the center of her chest, it showed off the generous swell of her stomach. Even with it being completely dark around them, it seemed the woman was exuding a light of her own from within her; and for all he knew, she was. None of them know what type of magic capacity the child within her would have, but with two strong parents, it was a given that the child would have a strong magic. "No, she's my friend and she really does want to help you Draco. You can trust her."

"Hmph. Like she helped you? Enslaving you to do her will whenever she sees fit? No thanks, I'll find my key on my own."

Loke took a step forward, standing between Lucy and the celestial dragon spirit. "Lucy isn't like that; and she did save my life. I was banished to the human world for the accidental death of my former master; I was fading after three years when I met Lucy. She summoned the spirit king and convinced him to accept me back into the celestial world, at the risk of her own life."

"You are lying. The king does not come because of the summons of a human."

There was another flash of light and Virgo stood next to Lucy, handing her a bottle of water and another stick of iron before she turned to face the dragon as well. "My princess holds ten of the twelve of us zodiacs, the most powerful spirits save for you, the king, and a few others. At the time she saved big brother Leo, she held five of us, plus three silvers, myself being one of them." Virgo turned to the blonde woman and gave a genuine smile before turning back. "She summoned all of us at once, showing her determination to save the one spirit she didn't have to even acknowledge. All of us supported her, supported Leo and the king was impressed enough by her that he allowed Leo back into the spirit world."

The dragon just snorted again after hearing Virgo's telling of Lucy saving the leader of the zodiac. The problem there was that after saving him, she had taken his key and used him as she saw fit. She saw it as a reason for her to save him and Draco wanted no part of that, she did not want to be the slave of a weak human. "No. I refuse to have my key in the hands of a human. You may be forced to obey the king in such ways, but I am not. If he does not have a key here on the human world then why should I?"

Lucy stepped up next to Loke a sad smile on her face. She could only imagine what this spirit had gone through with humans in the past. One didn't develop hatred and dislike this strong without a reason. Hatred wasn't born, it was taught, molded, and pushed on people. "It would be too dangerous for someone to hold the power of the spirit king in their hands. I can only imagine that is the reason 'stach face doesn't have a key here."

The dragon leaned her head down close to Lucy, her eyes shooting toward Gajeel as he moved to grab Lucy away from her. "Halt yourself dragon slayer, I will not harm her unless she strikes out at me. You on the other hand should not have the magic of a dragon."

Lucy's eyes widened as realization hit her. She knew why Draco had such an intense dislike of humans and she knew there wasn't a whole lot she and Gajeel could do to convince her that they weren't one of the bad ones. She was sure that before Draco had become the celestial dragon spirit she had been a real dragon, possibly alive before the dragon wars and before dragons started teaching human's their magic. "Draco, Gajeel was taken in and raised by a dragon when he was a child. To this day he still refers to that dragon as his father."

"Oi, she doesn't need to know any of that Bunny Girl!" Gajeel stood behind Lucy, ready to pull her back and away from the dragon should it make any wrong move.

"What happened to your human parents, dragon slayer?"

The man growled low in this throat and Lucy just looked over at him expectantly. She herself had never heard him speak of his human parents, only Metallicana. To him, that was his only parent. "I ain't got any. That giant metal lizard took me in and raised me after he found me abandoned, I didn't need anyone else."

"And what of your own child? Are you willing to let a dragon take that from you to raise?"

Lucy gasped as she took a step back, wrapping her hands around her abdomen. With a growl, Gajeel pulled her behind him and took a defensive stance as he activated his metal scales. "Try to take them and I will tear you to pieces. I don't care if I have to do it every damn day. My brat will learn everything they need to know from me and Lucy."

The dragon spirit nodded in understanding as she sat up, watching the two humans interact with each other. It seemed to her that the man held an incredible knowledge of her kin, and seemed to be a perfect blend of human and dragon instincts. He was much like his dragon father. Yes, Draco knew who the man's foster father was, there weren't many metal dragons. Add that with the fact that the human was crass and had a hard exterior, yet he was gentle and kind to those he cared for…just like his father.

Lucy shoved Gajeel off of her as he tried to convince her to leave and head back to the hotel with Loke while he worked something out with the dragon spirit. She saw the way the dragon was watching them and she knew it was looking for something in them. "Draco, I want to help you. Let us find those who took your key and I will return it to you. All I ask is that you quit terrorizing the area and scaring the town nearby."

Curling her tail around her, the dragon looked between the couple and tilted her head to the side. "You do not wish for the chance to have key as powerful as I? I find that hard to believe, human."

Lucy smile before she held all of her keys out for the dragon to see. "I do not make contracts with any spirit if they are unwilling to be in my service. I don't make demands and I don't force them to do anything they do not wish to do. You have my promise and a celestial wizard always keeps her promises."

The dragon snorted in disbelief. She knew the girl was naive now if she believed that. "There are many celestial wizards that have broken contracts and promises over the years, girl."

"Then they were not true celestial wizards. Did you know there are only two of us left on Earthland, at least as far as we know? Both of us take our promises very seriously, both inside and outside of our magic. You have my word as both a celestial wizard and a dragon slayer's mate that I will not keep you key against your will."

The dragon looked at the two of them before she lit up the area with star light to get a better look at them. There against the base woman's neck leading down past the collar of her shirt were the iron studs that her dragon slayer also sported throughout his body. She moved her gaze to the man, waiting for him to show her his mark from the woman as well. It didn't mean anything to a dragon if only one marked the other. To be a fully mated pair both had to bear the other's marks; and she just didn't see the woman as strong enough to force her magic into another's body, especially one so much stronger than her. "Well, are you going to show me yours as well? Did she mark you?"

Gajeel let out a breath of frustration as he pulled his coat off and wrapped it around Lucy's shoulders and pulled his shirt over his head, baring the two crossed golden keys against the front of his shoulder before he pulled his shirt back over his head. He knew what it meant to bear Lucy's mark, and he couldn't be prouder of it, and of her. "She holds more power than what you can see, I believe you are underestimating her, just like everyone else. Your spirit king knows her personally. Has spoken with her on more than one occasion and taken her to the spirit world to celebrate. Don't underestimate her."

"Very well. I will accept your offer and will leave the town alone. I believe those who have possession of my key are somewhere within this forest to the south, toward the base of the mountains."

* * *

Lucy was dreading getting back on the train. Once again, Gajeel had those magic little pills that Wendy had given him, yet since she was pregnant and they didn't know what would or would not affect her baby, he wouldn't give her one. But in all the two months they had been away from Fairy Tail had been fun and the job successful. Despite the horrid mayor of the town's anger at not having the beast destroyed, he was none the less happy that it would not be bothering them any longer and that the bandits that had been plaguing traveling merchants and citizens had been dealt with while trying to obtain Draco's key from them.

Draco had also had a change of heart after returning to the Spirit World and speaking with the king, learning that the famous Princess of the Celestial World was the woman she had been speaking with that night and that the spirit king did indeed hold her in high regard as her dragon slayer mate had said. After offering her key back to her, Draco declined, saying that it would be an honor to be contracted to someone not only powerful enough to summon her, but to a human who understood dragons and held the honor of both a dragon and the spirits.

"_Gajeel! Where is Lucy?!"_

The blonde looked up from her mate's lap as Mira's demonic voice came through his lacrimas and groaned. She really didn't want to deal with any of this right now. Rolling over, Lucy buried her face into Gajeel's stomach and groaned as she wrapped her arms around him. The man just chuckled at her reaction as he ran his hand through her hair, trying to comfort her in the few ways he knew would work. His was back against the window with one of his legs spread along the seat, while the other one hung to the ground, allowing Lucy to lay between his legs with her face pressed into his abdomen. "Pull your panties out of your ass, woman. She's fine. Apparently the baby doesn't like transportation, so she's suffering…though the…"

"Don't you dare tell them about that!" Lucy looked up and met her mate's red gaze with narrowed eyes. While she realized that the taste of the metal helped with both her cravings and her nausea, she still thought it was weird that she craved it, and really didn't want a whole lot of people knowing about it, at least not until she spoke to Wendy.

Rolling his eyes, Gajeel just looked back to the small picture of Mira on the hand held communications lacrimas. "We've found something that helps."

"_When are you coming back?"_

"We're on the train now, we should be back within a week and a half. The job was successful. Bunny was right, the town wasn't haunted; it was an angry celestial spirit fighting to find her stolen key. But hey…can we speak to Wendy, privately?"

"_Why?! Is everything alright? Is Lucy hurting? Is the baby okay?"_

Gajeel growled as Lucy chuckled against his stomach, mumbling something about telling him not to call and calling Laxus instead. "I already told you, they're both fine. Now give the fucking lacrimas to the brat!"

"Gajeel, why do you need to speak with Wendy?"

The dragon slayer laid the lacrima aside while he moved the blonde's hair out of the side of her face and smiled. "To talk to her about your new taste for metal. I know you can't ingest it, but I'm wondering if either she or the old witch can find a way to add the flavoring alone to things like your smoothies and food. The metal makes you feel better, we need to find ways to utilize it."

"Luce! Is it true that you have a dragon now?!" Natsu came running up to the duo as they walked through the guild doors to great everyone, his eyes widening as he saw his best friend. "Wow Luce, you've gotten fat."

Growling, Gajeel threw his fist into the man's face. He had a hard enough time trying to convince his Bunny that she wasn't fat and that as soon as she had their child that she would lose all of the weight. It was all baby weight anyway according to Wendy. "She's fucking pregnant you piece of fire shit!" He looked over at his blonde to see her standing at the bar with Wendy and Mira humming in delight as she quickly sucked down a smoothie that was handed to her. It seemed as if she either didn't hear Natsu or didn't care in the slightest. He could only assume the new concoction she was drinking was what he had spoken to the young dragon slayer about over the lacrima while on the train.

"Lucy, are you ready to have your checkup that you missed two months ago?"

The blonde's eyes widened before she blushed and nodded at the young bluenette. "Sorry Wendy, I didn't mean to leave and miss our appointment."

Hearing their conversation, Gajeel followed behind them, knowing that Lucy had wanted him there for all of the other appointments that she'd had with Wendy. As she reached the infirmary she paused and turned to look out in the guild only to meet his eyes as he made his way toward him, smiling as she lifted her straw back to her mouth before offering him some.

Tentatively, Gajeel took a small sip of the odd colored drink in her hand, his eyes widening as the flavor of iron and strawberries burst through his mouth. "Damn."

"They did good right?"

He just chuckled at her happiness as he gently turned her toward the door and lead her inside the office. "Yeah Bunny, they did good. Now, let's go get this checkup over with, I've got some asshole to beat to shit for insulting my Bunny."

Lucy sat at the bar with a notebook, occasionally marking through the words on the page. Biting her lip she cocked her head to the side and smiled while she circled one in particular and giggled to herself. "Lucy, what are you doing?"

Looking up, Lucy pulled her gray tinted strawberry smoothie toward her and took a drink as Erza and Levy took a seat on either side of her. "I'm going over baby names that Gajeel agreed with. Since Wendy told us we were having a girl I figured we needed to find a suitable name for her. Because as much as I love Gajeel, the metallic star he chose isn't exactly a proper name for a child. So…I think we're going to go with Sitara Maytel Redfox. That way we still get the gist of what Gajeel is wanting for her name."

"Wait, he's serious about wanting to name her that?"

Lucy giggled as she looked up at Erza and nodded. "Yeah. He said that we made her together so she should carry a part of the two of us in her name."

"Who would have thought that man could be so sweet behind closed doors?" Levy looked out toward the center of the guild where said dragon slayer was fighting with Natsu, Gray, and Elfman. Looking up briefly he shot Lucy a wink before throwing himself back into the fray.

The blonde just smiled at him and blushed before she shook her head and turned back to the solid script wizard. "No, it's not just behind closed doors, Levy. He just doesn't want anyone else to see it. Oh, I almost forgot. Draco offered to teach her celestial dragon slayer magic if she was strong enough."

Erza nodded her head in thanks to Mira as she laid a slice of strawberry cake in front of the woman. Shoving a large bite into her mouth, Erza turned to Lucy with a creased brow. "I thought you said she was against humans possessing the magic of a dragon."

Lucy creased her brow as she moved her hand down to her large stomach before she nodded at Erza. "She did…but she said that Gajeel and I…we…changed her mind. I've got to go. Gajeel…"

The dragon slayer was by her side in an instant, his eyes widening as he looked down to see the puddle of what looked like water at her feet before she clutched onto his arm and cried out in pain. The entire guild went silent as the blonde screamed. Grabbing her in his arms, he rushed her back to the infirmary where they had set up a make shift delivery room. Lucy had been adamant that she wanted to have their child in their second home as opposed to a hospital. He looked over his shoulder as he called out to Jet to go find the old bat and for someone to find Wendy.

He was terrified as he sat at Lucy's bedside holding her hand as she screamed and pushed like she was instructed, wincing as he could feel the bones in his hands rubbing against each other before he activated his metal scales. But he could still feel the strain of her strength as she squeezed and screamed. He knew this was one of the only things he could do for her right now. If she could go through the pain of both carrying and delivering their daughter, he could handle the discomfort of a few strains and fractured bones.

And there it was, the most beautiful sound he had ever heard, the crying of his daughter. A part of both him and his Bunny, with her mop of wet blonde hair and her piercing red eyes. As the small dragon slayer placed the bundle in his arms, he smiled as she reached up and grabbed his hand, bringing it up to her mouth and sucking on the metal of his finger. "She's definitely your daughter."

His eyes moved from the baby to her mother, a bright smile on her face. At this point in his life, he couldn't have been any happier. He had both the Bunny that made his dragon happy, and the baby that made his family complete. Reaching down, he kissed his Bunny's head before he set placed their daughter in her arms, chuckling as the small child cried out when the metal was taken from her.

"Sitara Maytel Redfox. Welcome home my little starry dew drop."

**A/N: And that's the end of GaLu Week. I had so much fun writing these and I hope you all enjoyed just as much. **


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